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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26469817">When Heaven Freezes Over</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeecatsme/pseuds/coffeecatsme'>coffeecatsme</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Lucifer (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Future, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, F/M, Future Fic, Gen, Heaven, You'll see what I'm talking about, but she has a plan to get him back, chloe dies and goes to heaven, chloe has "powers", kind of, lucifer can't reach her there</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:56:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>25,516</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26469817</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeecatsme/pseuds/coffeecatsme</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>It has been 10 days, 7 hours, and 53 minutes since Chloe Decker died. She was 41 years old and was killed on duty following a serial killer. Even with the ambulance and EMT arriving on the scene merely minutes after the shooting, or even with her fiancé and guardian angel there, no one could save her from the first bullet wound she had to the head.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Even though Lucifer shielded her from the other twenty. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Chloe Decker died in Lucifer’s arms in less than a second, and no angel could’ve saved her from her fate, not even the Devil himself. She died just two weeks before their wedding. </i>
</p><p> </p><p>Chloe dies and goes to Heaven, where Lucifer can't follow her. But if Chloe's something, she's determined, and she'll stop at nothing to get Lucifer back where she belongs - with herself in Heaven.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amenadiel &amp; Chloe Decker, Azrael &amp; Chloe Decker, Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar, Ella Lopez &amp; Lucifer Morningstar, Trixie Espinoza &amp; Lucifer Morningstar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>117</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>440</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>LUCIFER_FICS_</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Take Care of Her</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So, this idea came to me as I was watching Lucifer season 5 and I saw Dan sitting by Charlotte's grave. This is kind of a future fic and takes place a few years after the events of season 5a. Note that I completely ignore God coming to earth or Michael's "bigger plan" or whatever stuff that will happen in the rest of season 5 or season 6. Just keep in mind that Chloe and Lucifer are established and engaged at this point.</p><p>Warning: Mature language (other stuff doesn't get gritty enough to give it a Mature rating, but just wanted to have this warning here)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Lucifer</em>
</p>
<p>It has been 10 days, 7 hours, and 53 minutes since Chloe Decker died. She was 41 years old and was killed on duty following a serial killer. Even with the ambulance and EMT arriving on the scene merely minutes after the shooting, or even with her fiancé and guardian angel there, no one could save her from the first bullet wound she had to the head.</p>
<p>Even though Lucifer shielded her from the other twenty.</p>
<p>Chloe Decker died in Lucifer’s arms in less than a second, and no angel could’ve saved her from her fate, not even the Devil himself. She died just two weeks before their wedding.</p>
<p>Lucifer still can’t quite wrap his mind around it.</p>
<p>He should be used to death, really. He’s welcomed billions of people into Hell since the dawn of time, and his favorite sibling is no other than the angel of Death, Azrael, herself. He <em>knows </em>humans are fragile and have a limited lifespan, he knows they eventually succumb to death one way or another, and deep down he knew Chloe would eventually die as well, leaving him on earth, to rise to the Silver City. (He never even entertained the idea that she might go to Hell. She was too good of a person for that.)</p>
<p>He just thought they would have decades more before that happened. He thought he would be able to build a life with Chloe as his wife, watch her grow old, retire, and get a cozy cottage out of the city, away from the crowd and the traffic, and spend their last few years together there. He never imagined he’d lose Chloe this soon.</p>
<p> <em>Think of me as your human shield. </em>Lucifer remembers most conversations he had with Chloe, but somehow it is those words that are left stuck in his head lately. <em>Your human shield. </em>When they figured out, thanks to Dan’s idiotic decision to shoot him, that he was <em>finally </em>invulnerable around her, he was ecstatic. Not only because, well, he didn’t have to worry about getting hurt—not that it was much of a worry of him, though, to be completely honest. He was willing to risk even death to be around Chloe—but he could finally <em>protect Chloe </em>without being riddled with bullets himself. He could throw himself in front of a bullet for her and still be completely fine to fight their attacker.</p>
<p>After a slight…insecurity on Chloe’s part, she also saw the usefulness in Lucifer’s newfound ability. Even though his tailor balked at the number of shirts Lucifer had to replace—bullets and thousand-dollar suits didn’t mix well—the two of them were quite content with the arrangement. Chloe was glad to have a “guardian angel” with her, as she called it—to Lucifer’s dismay, as he was <em>not</em> and angel thank you very much—and Lucifer was glad to be able to keep her safe in a dangerous line of work.</p>
<p>Except when it mattered the most, he couldn’t keep her safe. He jumped in front of her the moment he heard the first shot go off, and he was too late. Chloe was lying limp in his arms, a light trickle of blood on her forehead, lifeless eyes looking up at him.</p>
<p>Something broke inside Lucifer right then and there. The pain of losing the only person that made his life worth living rivaled even his Fall, and in his eons-long life, he’s never felt more alone. He’s stuck here, on earth or in Hell, unable to reach the Silver City, where his love is. <em>She’s happy, </em>has become his mantra lately; <em>she’s in heaven, she’s happy, and that’s all that matters, </em>yet even that doesn’t help anymore.</p>
<p>Blinking, Lucifer tries to bring himself back into reality. He’s kneeling in the graveyard, in front of where they buried Chloe, looking at the cheap piece of wood that labeled her name until her gravestone is made. (That’s what happens when someone dies so suddenly—nothing is ready to say goodbye to them, bot even the earth or the gravestone, not even her will, nothing.) It feels <em>wrong </em>that her grave looks so unremarkable, but even Lucifer’s best contacts can’t get a gravestone ready in ten days.</p>
<p>Five days, more like, because only then Lucifer was able to order it anyway. Only then Chloe’s death hit him and he finally had to accept the truth—he would never be able to see her again.</p>
<p>Tears blur the grave in front of him and he fists the earth underneath him, the dry soil and stones turning to dust under his harsh grip. He roughly bites down on his cheek, yet he can’t pull even one drop of blood. He is, as always, <em>invulnerable. </em></p>
<p>What a <em>joke. </em>What good is his vulnerability if he can’t save the one person he loves most in the world?</p>
<p>“I’m sorry…” he whispers to the grave, knowing full well that Chloe can’t hear him. She’s not an angel; she doesn’t hear or answer prayers. Still, the words tumble out of his lips, hoping against hope that one of his siblings—Amenadiel, hopefully, or even Azrael—can hear him. They know Chloe; they can surely direct his sentiments to her. “I’m…” He stops and looks to the sky, to the sun burning his eyes. The sun <em>he </em>made, bright and powerful, yet even it can’t warm his insides. He’s started to feel a bit of sympathy to people whose Hell loops included freezing to death because this perpetual cold in his heart feels deathly. He wishes it would actually take him.</p>
<p>“I was supposed to protect you,” he chokes out, his voice hoarse. Something is stuck in his throat and since he can’t get sick, he knows it’s his own feelings. His mind flashes back to the first night Chloe…died, and he spent hours in the bathroom trying to chase away the stench of death—he didn’t have even one speck of blood on him, yet he just couldn’t feel <em>clean </em>enough, no matter how much he rubbed his skin—and finally puking his guts out because he couldn’t take it anymore. Now he looks hollow, lifeless, with sunken cheeks and collapsed shoulders, only a shell of the angel—or even the Devil—he used to be. Even his wings are affected, their luminescent white color replaced by a dull grey.</p>
<p>“I was supposed to be your partner,” he continues, fisting his hands again. More dirt turns to dust. “Your bloody invulnerable partner and I just wasn’t…” <em>There. </em>He wasn’t there, not in the sense that he wasn’t with her, but he couldn’t <em>get </em>to her in time. An invulnerable, inhumanly fast angel couldn’t save his fiancée from a bullet.</p>
<p>It sounds like a joke. Lucifer wants it to be a joke. And yet…</p>
<p>More tears spill down his cheeks. “And I know I’m supposed to be happy, you know, because you’re in Heaven and you <em>deserve </em>it, deserve all that happiness, but…” <em>But I’m not there, </em>he thinks. <em>I belong to Hell, and you’re in Heaven. </em>Guilt churns in his stomach. Maybe people are right to call the Devil selfish because who would wish Hell upon their love? Maybe he didn’t deserve Chloe all along.</p>
<p>“Trixie asked me if I was actually the Devil, you know,” he whispers, changing the subject. He needs to change the subject, or he’ll puke again in a fruitless attempt to expel the guilt and he hates how that feels. “And I know we agreed to not tell her the truth until we settled down, but…” He trails off. <em>We can’t settle down now, </em>he thinks. <em>You’re gone. </em>“I think…she’s happy that you’re in Heaven, at least. That you didn’t just disappear in death. I think it’s helping her cope.”</p>
<p>Honestly, Lucifer has no clue how Trixie is coping. Dan took her to vacation the day after Chloe’s funeral. The two times Lucifer saw the girl was to give her the bad news—and he thought his heart couldn’t shatter further—and when Trixie ran from home to Lucifer’s penthouse to ask about his true identity. He’s at the very least proud that he managed to make Trixie smile when he whipped out his wings. For a brief minute, Trixie forgot that her mom was dead. At least he was able to give the girl that moment of happiness, and the comfort that her mother’s soul is out there somewhere, waiting for her daughter.</p>
<p>No doubt Trixie will go to heaven as well, though Lucifer hopes it’s after a long and happy life. Another person he will eventually lose. More tears spill down his eyes.</p>
<p>“I miss you, Chloe,” he chokes out, gulping several times to keep his sobs at bay. “I’m the bloody Devil and I’m grieving after a human. It sounds like the start of a really bad joke.”</p>
<p><em>It’s not a joke, Lucifer, </em>he can imagine Chloe say. She was always adamant that whatever society ascribed him to be, whatever his father made him to be, he could choose his own path. Free will and all, right? He appreciates her for it, appreciates the unyielding love she had for her…but there is something he can’t do, no matter how much free will he has. He’s still banned from Heaven.</p>
<p>A rough sob escapes his lips. He won’t lie and say he never cried before, but it’s been a long while since he <em>sobbed. </em>Eons, even. He doesn’t like the feeling. His throat feels too tight that even a gulp is painful. His stomach is twisted into knots and he’s pretty sure someone’s sitting on his chest because he is so, so heavy. He’s…<em>spent</em>, is a good way to put it, and he knows there’s only one person who can make it all better.</p>
<p>The one person he will never see again.</p>
<p>Another sob escapes him and he balls his hands over his knees, ripping into his pants. A few weeks ago, he would complain about a perfectly pristine suit being ruined. Now, he just digs his nails into the fabric even more.</p>
<p><em>Dad… </em>The thought escapes him before he can hold himself. It’s been a while since he prayed for his Dad—well, at least called to him for anything other than petty admonishments or outright fury. He stops for a second, unable to decide whether he actually wants to do it. Dad threw him out of Heaven. He banished him to Hell to be a <em>torturer </em>for eons. He never once showed that he regretted his actions, or that he actually cared about Lucifer at all. In any other situation, he would balk at the idea of even calling out to Dad. Yet…</p>
<p>Yet it’s <em>Chloe. </em>It’s the love of his life. And even if he can’t be there for her, he needs to make sure she’s being taken care of. She’s…happy. He bites back the nausea and looks up from Chloe’s grave.</p>
<p>“Dad, I know you hate me. I know I haven’t been the best son. But please… Make sure Chloe’s happy. I’ll do anything you want, be anything you want me to be if…” <em>If you let me just get a glimpse of her. If you just let me embrace her, taste her lips one more time… </em>“If you take care of Chloe. That’s all I’m asking for.” He gazes at the sky for a little longer, the sun burning his eyes—how <em>ironic, </em>really, considering he put it there—then sobs bubble up his throat. His shoulders slump and he curls into himself, lying down on Chloe’s grave. In his grief, his wings pop out, covering him like a giant, grey blanket.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Grief and Fury</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>so, a big ole DISCLAIMER here: i'm not religious. i haven't read any religious books and the little research i've done about any of the world's largest religions are lacking at best, biased at worst. so i'm not basing this Heaven or God on anything that i've read. this was just an idea that popped in my mind, and i thought it would be fun to explore how it would work. i'm not trying to offend anyone if their idea of Heaven or God are different. </p>
<p>though i mean, i'm talking to a fandom that's like in love with the Devil himself, so that shouldn't be a problem? just wanted to mention it anyway. </p>
<p>also, this is a massive, MASSIVE chapter, and i just didn't find a good place to break it up into pieces, so i'm posting all of it together. y'all are lucky. but i hope you like it; this was a really fun one to write.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Chloe</em>
</p>
<p>Chloe doesn’t know when the morning came, or even beyond that, when she even stepped outside to see it. The last she remembers, she was with Lucifer, about to bust a serial killer. They went into his house, Lucifer in front of Chloe to shield her as always, and then…</p>
<p>The shot rings in her ears again. <em>Oh, </em>she thinks weakly. She must’ve been shot. She vaguely remembers the shot coming from opposite to where they assumed the serial killer would be. It must’ve taken Lucifer a second to get his bearings and throw himself in front of her.</p>
<p>So she was shot, and now…she’s in the hospital? That would explain the brightness. Yet she thinks, somehow, that’s not the answer. The brightness, it seems like, is focused on a singular point instead of surrounding her entirely. Maybe someone is shining a flashlight to her eyes. Maybe she’s been shot and she’s just regaining awareness.</p>
<p>“You know, Chlo, when I said I wanted to meet my brother’s totes-cool, hella badass fiancée, <em>this </em>wasn’t exactly what I meant.” A thin, female voice takes her out of her thoughts, and then she hears a light giggle. “Huh, see what I did there? <em>Hella. </em>Because you know, you’re with Lucifer and he’s <em>of Hell </em>and all—not that I think he’s Devilish, but you get it.”</p>
<p>Chloe blinks open her eyes, unable to make sense of half the words she heard, and comes face to face with two gigantic, white wings. She knows instantly that they’re Lucifer’s—for some reason, the other angels seem to have grayish-brown wings, not nearly as pretty or luminous as Lucifer’s. <em>The light bringer, </em>she thinks wistfully, her eyes falling down to his face.</p>
<p>She frowns when her mind picks up on the terror that seems to mar his features. “Lucifer?” she calls to him, yet he doesn’t look up. <em>Odd. </em>He has some sort of super hearing or whatever and there’s no way he doesn’t hear her at this close of a range. Yet his sole focus seems to be on the body he’s holding in his arms, his lips forming quiet words.</p>
<p>She does a double take when she looks at the body again. Because it isn’t <em>any </em>non-descript body. It’s <em>hers. She’s </em>lying in Lucifer’s arms, limp and by all accounts…lifeless.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” the female voice interrupts her again and a figure steps into her line of sight. “Sorry about this whole mess. I was so shipping you guys, but…” The girl—yes, a teenage <em>girl</em>—seems disturbed as she gazes at Lucifer and her <em>body, </em>and then turns to her. The fake smile on her face clashes with the utter grief that shines in her eyes. Chloe takes in the bowl cut, the uneven bangs, the childish round face, and her brows climb to her forehead. Still, there is an air of maturity to the girl, as if she’s lived eons longer than her appearance shows.</p>
<p>Something slowly clicks in her mind, and she remembers Lucifer vaguely talking about his obnoxious sister Azrael that reminded him a bit of Ella.</p>
<p>“Are you Azrael?” she blurts out, and some semblance of happiness reaches Azrael’s eyes.</p>
<p>“Yep. It’s awesome to meet you, sister-in-law! Well, sorta, but who’s counting, right? You totally would’ve tied the knot if not for…” Azrael’s face falls again and she grimaces at Lucifer—her brother, Chloe’s mind supplies unhelpfully. “You know, a bullet to the head. Man that serial killer has good aim.”</p>
<p><em>I’m dead, </em>Chloe thinks, the words foreign to her. Azrael is looming next to her silently, yet she only has eyes for Lucifer and— She dismisses the idea of her body in his arms. With shaky legs she steps closer and kneels down.</p>
<p>His soft voice, which she was unable to hear seconds before, hit her then. <em>“No,” </em>he whispers, moving a hand to the back of Chloe’s head. She feels like throwing up when she sees her soulless eyes looking up. She might’ve, too, but she thinks something about being dead prevents it. “That’s not… I protected you,” Lucifer continues. Pain is audible in his voice, even if from outside he just looks shellshocked. She’s never heard his words tremble this much. Even his teeth are clattering together and a shiver runs down his body, shaking her body away from his arms.</p>
<p>The body falls to the floor with a soft thunk. Chloe has to look away.</p>
<p>“Don’t tell anyone, but sometimes I think Dad has a twisted sense of humor,” Azrael offers. Chloe’s eyes snap up at the girl. “I mean, putting you on earth only to take you from Lu? So<em> uncool</em>.”</p>
<p>“I shielded you. I was here. I don’t understand…” Lucifer’s words cut through Chloe’s heart like a hell-forged blade. When she sees grief shine in Azrael’s eyes again, her pain turns to fury.</p>
<p>“You <em>think?” </em>Chloe doesn’t mean her voice to have such a bite in it, yet she can’t help it. She rises and steps away from Lucifer, away from his grieving, unconnected words—if she hears him utter “No” one more time, she might lose her mind—and faces Azrael. “I need to go back.” She doesn’t even waste time with sentimentality. She needs to get back to Lucifer.</p>
<p>Azrael’s face twists painfully. “Chloe, that’s not possible.”</p>
<p>“What do you mean <em>not possible? </em>You’re the damn Angel of Death! Make it happen!”</p>
<p>“I only take dead souls up into Heaven for their yay-everything’s-okay orientation or drag them down to Hell for a torture palooza. You think Dad would let anyone but him decide who lives and who dies?”</p>
<p>“And I’m <em>supposed</em> to die.” Chloe’s words are dry and her voice cracks in the middle. “That’s your <em>Dad’s </em>idea for a miracle.” Her voice is so full of spit that for a split second, she wonders if it’s smart to spite the most powerful being in the universe.</p>
<p>Then she hears Lucifer call her name shakily, and she realizes she doesn’t care.</p>
<p>“God sent me here to be with Lucifer, to make him happy, only to take me away in less than ten years? What part of that sounds like a <em>miracle </em>to you?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know, dude!” Azrael throws her hands up in the air and desperation cracks through her mask. For once, Chloe gets the feeling that she doesn’t entirely know what this all means. “I don’t have a Doomed-To-Die-Humans Word document on my laptop. Dad kills someone, I deal with them. You think it’s fun dealing with humans coping with their death <em>every single day?</em>” She huffs out an indignant breath and crosses her arms. Seeing a decent amount of death in her line of work, Chloe can sympathize with the angel. <em>Slightly. </em>Very, very slightly. “I didn’t even know who I was coming for until I landed here. Dad’s not the most open person, you know. Miracle if he even talks to me.” She gives Chloe a sidelong glance. “No offense.”</p>
<p>But Chloe doesn’t hear half of the words. Her focus shifts back to Lucifer, whose wings are hanging limp on his back now. His hands are clasping hers tightly and he’s just staring at her, lips parted open, eyes wide as saucers. She thinks he doesn’t even <em>compute </em>what happened to her.</p>
<p>The love of his life is in pain, and there’s nothing she can do about it.</p>
<p>“So what, I’m just supposed to leave Lucifer without a fight?” she chokes out, her voice strained with tears. “Leave him to grieve me for however long…” Then an idea strikes her, and she feels the world tilt. Only thanks to Azrael’s grip on her arm that she’s able to stay standing. Her eyes find the girl’s saddened ones. “I’m going to Heaven, aren’t I?” she asks, and from the shock that splashed on Azrael’s face, she imagines no one ever shared that sentiment with such <em>pain </em>before. Until understanding fills her eyes.</p>
<p>“He’s banned from Heaven, Chloe,” she whispers, her voice so quiet that it’s like she’s trying to hold back her tears. “He can’t follow us there.” <em>Ever, </em>she doesn’t add, but Chloe knows. She looks back at Lucifer and reality hits her like a truck way overdue a speeding ticket.</p>
<p>She and Lucifer lost each other <em>forever. </em></p>
<p>For the first time in her life, she wishes she’d gone to Hell instead.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Chloe meets her dad in Heaven after what Azrael dubs the “super boring but also kind of necessary if you don’t want to blow yourself to bits” orientation. According to their guide, who’s another angel, they can get pretty much whatever they want in Heaven, as long as it’s within the physical realm. Her hopes of getting Lucifer up here is crushed within seconds.</p>
<p>With the rush of dying and the pain of losing her fiancé and her daughter, Chloe completely forgets what Amenadiel mentioned to her just a few years before—that her dad is in Heaven, watching her, proud of her little daughter. So it’s a surprise when she steps into Heaven for the first time and finds herself in his embrace.</p>
<p>He looks like he hasn’t aged a day and she realizes quickly that he actually hasn’t. Why would he, with his immortal soul? Happy tears fill her eyes as she embraces the man back, forgetting for about ten minutes what she was so sad about anyway. She’s in Heaven, she’s with her father, and everything will be okay.</p>
<p>Everything kind of crushes to smithereens when his father brings Lucifer up. He takes Chloe’s left hand in his and brushes the engagement ring—it’s a small diamond with a simple, silver band, fitting to his tastes perfectly.</p>
<p>“You know I had my doubts when Amenadiel first mentioned you were dating the Devil,” he comments, his tone filled with amusement. Chloe’s face falls immediately. “But it seems like he really made you happy, Monkey.”</p>
<p>Chloe barely schools her features into a fake smile when he looks up. “Yeah,” she chokes out, curling her fingers into a fist. It is incredible, considering Lucifer is a literal fountain of money, that he bought her such a simple ring. Another proof that he knew her well—he knew dating him has never been about his money for her. She probably would’ve chucked the ring out the window if he proposed with some gigantic diamond that would weigh her finger down. “He gets a bad rep, Dad. He’s a really good person.”</p>
<p>“So I’ve heard.” He presses a light kiss on Chloe’s hair and pulls her into a hug. He doesn’t even realize that she’s suppressing tears. He’s just <em>that </em>happy, and now that his daughter is there, what is there to be sad about? He doesn’t even imagine Chloe could be grieving her husband as well. Lucifer isn’t dead, but he might as well be for <em>her</em>. While it’ll be hard not seeing her friends or Trixie, she knows deep in her heart that they’ll join her in Heaven some time in the future. She didn’t lose them. But with Lucifer… She doesn’t even have the promise of seeing him again.</p>
<p>For her, she truly lost him forever.</p>
<p><em>Lucifer would’ve realized something was wrong with me, </em>she thinks, feeling numb in his father’s arms. Sure, he could be childish sometimes and human emotions flew over his head more often than not, but after being together for so long, he became attuned to her feelings, at least. Even if she tried to keep an impassive mask, he always saw through her.</p>
<p>A gulf inadvertently grows between her and her father, and Chloe hates it.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Heaven is a vast, endless place and humans are allowed pretty much anywhere, except the mountains in which God and his children reside. None of the other souls seems even one bit interested in entering there, quite content to be in Heaven in the first place. Chloe realizes it’s a general theme here—whoever she talked to mentioned just how <em>amazing </em>Heaven is, just how <em>happy </em>they are, and she would find her happiness here soon enough. She talked to generations of her older relatives, most looking no older than her own age—apparently you get to decide how old you are—and they all described all the great things Heaven had to offer. When she asked about God’s mountains, though, all she got as a response was that people didn’t go there.</p>
<p>It takes Chloe two days to find herself in front of the gates. (At least she assumes it is two days. Day and night work differently in Heaven and usually happens when people wish it to happen. It has at least been two days for her.) No one in Heaven had anything to ask from God—for what would you even ask for when you could have <em>everything</em>—but she’s different. She has business to settle with her father-in-law.</p>
<p>Technically, he’s not, but she doesn’t let that deter her. Azrael did say that she and Lucifer were practically married. Besides, it’s easier to think of him as Lucifer’s father than God of all universe. The second part will only come in handy because that means he can bring Lucifer to Heaven. He can let his son come <em>home. </em></p>
<p>She wraps her hands around the gate and pushes, yet nothing happens. A frustrated sigh leaves her lips and she pushes harder, but the gate doesn’t budge at all. It’s so bright behind the gate that she can barely see the road, yet she narrows her eyes and tries to see if any of Lucifer’s siblings are there.</p>
<p>“Azrael?” she yells beyond the gates, yet nothing happens. “You there? Gabriel? Remiel?” Frowning, she tries to think of other siblings Lucifer mentioned.</p>
<p>Until she hears a whoosh behind her. She turns around to find herself face to face with none other than Amenadiel himself. The one angel she didn’t expect to see.</p>
<p>“I thought you were down on earth,” she blurts out. A warm smile pulls Amenadiel’s lips.</p>
<p>“I am.” Chloe blinks, about to ask how he’s back here, but then she stops. Realization hits her. Of course, Amenadiel isn’t <em>banned </em>from Heaven and he has his wings back. He’s allowed to come and go as he pleases.</p>
<p>Hot tears fill her eyes. Amenadiel’s smile melts and he frowns, about to ask what’s wrong, but she doesn’t give him a chance. “I need to see your father.” Her voice, thankfully, is strong and unyielding.</p>
<p>“Chloe, that’s not—”</p>
<p>“Don’t you <em>dare </em>tell me that’s not possible.” She closes the gap and jabs Amenadiel in the chest. “I’m a human, and didn’t God create me? I’m allowed to meet my creator, right?” Amenadiel’s eyes tells her that that’s not exactly possible. “What, did no one in Heaven ever want to see him or something? He lives and rules on his high throne and everyone’s fine with it?”</p>
<p>“There were those…curious, but none of them went as far as to demand a meeting,” Amenadiel confesses. “They were just happy to be here.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, that seems to be a <em>trend.” </em>Her voice is full of bite. “Does Heaven have some sort of magical mumbo jumbo that makes everyone meek and obedient?” She has a double take. “Wait, does it?” Because <em>that </em>doesn’t sound like free will at all. Is everyone “magic”ed into feeling good?</p>
<p>“Not exactly, but most people who would’ve selfishly asked for more end up in Hell in the first place. People who gain entry to Heaven know to be content with what they’re given, and most of their desires are fulfilled anyway.” Chloe rolls her eyes.</p>
<p>“And that’s why Lucifer was banned, wasn’t he?” Lucifer talked to her about his Fall, and whichever way she turns it, she only sees it as a terrible father kicking his son out of his house because he dared to ask for freedom. What God does to his children—expecting perfect obedience and punishing those who step out of the line even one bit—would be labeled as child abuse back on earth. “Because he dared ask for free will. He dared be ‘selfish’ and ask for more than he was given.”</p>
<p>Understanding fill Amenadiel’s eyes. He looks at the Gates, and he seems to realize why she wants to see God. “You want to ask God to let him back into Heaven.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I’m not going to God because I need to ask for a pretty <em>dress </em>or something.” Another whoosh sound fills the air and she doesn’t need to look down to see she’s in a drees right now. She rolls her eyes and wishes back her leather jacket and jeans. It’s funny that she can get what she inadvertently wants but can’t even ask for what she really wishes. “Lucifer is his <em>son </em>and it’s been <em>eons. </em>He should be allowed back.” <em>To see me, </em>she thinks but keeps it to herself.</p>
<p>“I’m afraid that’s not something I get to decide, Chloe.” Amenadiel really does sound sad. “And I can’t give you an audience with my father. That’s not in my power.”</p>
<p>“You’re a damn <em>angel.”</em></p>
<p>“Even angels have limited power.” He offers her an apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry, Chloe. I know you really miss him and want him here.”</p>
<p><em>You have no idea, </em>Chloe thinks but her throat is knotted. She clenches her teeth together and lifts her chin. She can’t give up yet. “But <em>you</em> can see God.” Amenadiel nods, not entirely sure where she’s going with it. “Can’t you and other angels appeal to him on Lucifer’s behalf? You know him, Amenadiel. You’ve seen the person he’s become on earth. He deserves to be here, and <em>you </em>can make your father see it.” The angel’s face crumbles, along with Chloe’s final hope. “Can’t you?”</p>
<p>“We tried, Chloe. Father doesn’t really like…listening. He said he’ll consider, but he’s lived for eons and ‘considering’ for him could mean thousands of years.” He reaches forward and wipes Chloe’s cheeks. She didn’t even realize she was crying until then. She’s shaking like a leaf. “For what it’s worth, Chloe, he really misses you, too. I’m sure he’d come here in a heartbeat.”</p>
<p>“And you think I’m supposed to be happy because he’s hurting just as much as I am?” She can’t keep her voice from shaking. “Your damn <em>God </em>can fix it with a snap and yet…” For not the first time, she’s baffled at how humans got God and the Devil so, so wrong. “You know, I think I agree with Lucifer now. In my books, God really does sound like the villain.”</p>
<p>Then she stomps away from the gates, wiping away his tears. In her moment of pain and in Amenadiel’s helplessness, they both don’t notice the flowers lining God’s gates wilt.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Chloe’s father realizes eventually that his daughter isn’t entirely happy. He showers her with affection and gifts, trying to put a smile on her face. He even introduces her to her ancestors, going hundreds of years back, and somehow “tea and gossiping” with her great-great-whatever-grandmothers becomes a daily thing for Chloe.</p>
<p>Really, she hates it. They all look so happy, gushing about their husbands and wives, and it only serves as a reminder to Chloe what she <em>doesn’t</em> have. Yet the alternative is moping at her house and that’s even worse. Her house looks like an exact replica of Lucifer’s penthouse—that place has become some sort of a home for her lately, so it isn’t much of a surprise—and that does nothing to ease the pain of losing him.</p>
<p>“Oh, your loved one will come here eventually,” one of her great-times-twenty grandmothers say to her at some point, her hand clasping her wife’s. “Or you’ll find someone here, dear. Back in my time, people like me were killed, but look at me now. I’m in Heaven and I found myself the most beautiful woman.”</p>
<p><em>At least the Bible definitely got God’s views on homosexuality wrong, </em>is what Chloe thinks. A pettier part of her adds, <em>and yet he’s horrible to his own children. He can’t even let Lucifer come back home. </em></p>
<p>It’s when she’s walking to her penthouse from one of those meetings that she notices something different. She’s walking in her garden and she absentmindedly brushes away a wilted flower that fell onto her path.</p>
<p>Then she stops and turns back, her eyes fixed on the wilted flower. Gingerly, she takes it in her hand.</p>
<p>She didn’t know it was possible for flowers to <em>die </em>in Heaven. Somehow, though, she feels comfort in the fact that they <em>can. </em>It’s a reminder to her that Heaven isn’t as perfect as everyone makes it out to be. In her short two months here, she identifies with this wilted flower way more than she identified with anyone else.</p>
<hr/>
<p>By the time her third month in Heaven rolls around, Chloe has a collection of wilted flowers. They seem to show up around her whenever she’s having an especially rough time and she picks them up, stowing them away before anyone else can get their hands on them and take them away. The wilted flowers give her a semblance of hope that she’s justified in feeling sad.</p>
<p>It takes her some time to find the cause of the flowers.</p>
<p>It happens when she’s sitting down with her new friends. She meets them when she’s bartending in Lux—yes, her penthouse is attached to an exact replica of Lux. As much as she used to hate Lucifer’s partying habits, she finds the existence of the nightclub comforting. Its crowd makes her feel at least slightly normal.</p>
<p>She starts going out for coffee every other week with her friends. They’re not a replacement for Ella, Linda, or Maze—she missed her girls so much—but it’s <em>something</em>. They go to a different café each time, and their choice of venue this week is a cozy little garden that has a popup coffee house. Technically, they don’t need any equipment to ask for coffee, but according to her ancestors, human amenities make people feel more comfortable, so they’re a thing. Whatever humans want, they get.</p>
<p>Except when it comes to Chloe.</p>
<p>Her coffee tastes bitter—for some reason, the coffee machine always pours her a dark black coffee even though her favorite is non-fat almond milk latte—as she listens to Haille talk about her new boyfriend. Apparently, breakups are a thing in Heaven, too, yet they’re not nearly as drama filled as they are on earth. Most people here are too respectful or too content to turn breakups into a big deal. “I think this time, I really found the one, guys,” she says, a wistful smile on her face. “He just knows how to make me smile, if you know what I mean. Even if I’m sad, he always seems to know exactly what I need to hear.”</p>
<p>“Oh, sounds like we <em>have to </em>meet him, huh?” Gemma leans in, a curious twinkle in her eyes. Chloe doesn’t feel like participating in the conversation at all. Instead, her gaze is focused on the table.</p>
<p><em>Lucifer always knew how to make me smile, too, </em>she thinks. <em>Even with his damn insensitive jokes in crime scenes. He made seeing dead bodies every other day bearable. He and Ella, always joking back and forth about the victims. </em></p>
<p>She wonders briefly what Lucifer is doing right now. She wonders how much time passed on earth—she knows it must be less than three months, as Amenadiel hinted that time passes slower in Heaven and Hell. Is he still grieving, then?</p>
<p>She knows, in her heart, that he is. He must be in just as much pain as she is now, or maybe even more. She is in Heaven and he’s stuck on earth or Hell.</p>
<p>“That’s odd.” At Gemma’s claim, she realizes she missed about half the conversation. Gemma and Haille are looking at the bouquet of flowers in the middle of the table. The white roses that shone brightly just a few moments ago are now all wilted, the petals an odd shade of gray. Chloe inadvertently reaches out to touch them, but Gemma immediately stops her.</p>
<p>“No, don’t. They might be poisoned or something.” Chloe frowns.</p>
<p>“It’s just a wilted flower, Haille. And it’s not like I can <em>die.</em>”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but flowers don’t <em>wilt. </em>We’re in Heaven, for God’s sake.” Chloe grimaces at the namedrop. Now she can understand why Lucifer hates it when humans mention God in front of him.</p>
<p>But that’s not even the part she’s focused on. Her attention is back at the flowers and she thinks of her collection back at home. <em>Flowers don’t wilt in Heaven, </em>and yet…</p>
<p>She looks down and sees that the flowers aren’t the only dead thing around. The grass underneath her feet is brown and wispy. It takes her a second to realize that she’s the one that killed them. The flowers and the grass. She thought about Lucifer, and they’re dead.</p>
<p>“Do you think we should let someone know?” Gemma asks, obviously concerned. “I mean, I know angels don’t talk to us or something, but…”</p>
<p>Chloe keeps quiet about how both Amenadiel and Azrael visited her multiple times.</p>
<p>“Uh, let’s just see if it happens again. I mean, I’m sure it’s nothing, and even then, God can fix it, right?”</p>
<p><em>Yeah, but he hasn’t fixed the ones in my penthouse, </em>she thinks with a frown. She wonders whether it’s possible that God doesn’t know about this, at all. What is one flower compared to the millions he has both on earth and Heaven, right?</p>
<p>But what if they died on a larger scale? Would he notice?</p>
<p>An idea forms in Chloe’s head.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Even in Heaven, Chloe is a detective. She’s pretty sure it’s her that’s making the flowers around her wilt, yet she needs to be sure. It’s easy to find a clearing to do it, and she wills it to fill with flowers.</p>
<p>A pop of color appears around her. It’s so pretty, pinks and purples and blues and reds mixing together in harmony, some taller, some shorter, some with large petals, but they all look like they belong together. She lets herself appreciate their beauty for a second.</p>
<p>Then she takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and thinks about Lucifer. Thinks about the way his voice mesmerizes everyone at Lux when he sings. The way his face relaxes when his eyes meet hers. The way his mouth curls into a grin when he finds something amusing. A warm smile appears on her face. He’s beautiful in an indescribable way. Yes, he’s the Devil, and all religious books claims that Devil has a way of enticing people, but she knows that’s not it. Lucifer is <em>genuine. </em>He doesn’t lie, doesn’t hide himself, doesn’t bother to be likeable. He just…<em>is. </em>He doesn’t care who hates him or who likes him, and that’s what she finds the most enticing. Among a whole world of fake people, he shines.</p>
<p>She opens her eyes, and to her dismay, none of the flowers around her is wilted. In fact, they look <em>brighter </em>now, and she sees more pops of red than before, as if more flowers grew. So Lucifer isn’t the key, obviously, even though she’s sure she was thinking about Lucifer whenever she found a wilted flower.</p>
<p>Then she thinks. Yes, Lucifer was on her mind, but not in the way she thought about him just now. Those times, she was grieving over her separation from Lucifer and how unfair it was that they couldn’t see each other again because <em>God</em> is a selfish bastard who doesn’t even care about his son. Her mouth curls into frown and she fists her hand.</p>
<p>How is it fair that everyone finds their love here, in Heaven, yet she’s not allowed to have <em>hers</em>? How is it fair that Lucifer deserves happiness more than anyone, and yet he’s stuck on earth because his Dad thinks his children shouldn’t have freedom? Fuck that.</p>
<p><em>Fuck </em>that.</p>
<p>The flowers curl against her legs and she blinks away her tears, only to see a circle of gray around her. The flowers that are closest to her are dead, the petals falling down, the stems weak and brittle. The edge of the circle is a few feet away from her.</p>
<p>She touches the petal of one of the flowers just to make sure, and they don’t only look wilted. They are wilted.</p>
<p>She smiles. <em>So it is possible to wilt flowers in Heaven.</em></p>
<hr/>
<p>After her revelation, Chloe begins to test her newfound “power”. She realizes that her mood swings actually do affect the environment around her. On nights she’s feeling happier and more relaxed, Lux is full of people having fun, dancing to happy, upbeat songs. When she’s feeling especially grievous, only a few stragglers appear, and even they complain about the quality of the alcohol. She’s even able to affect the <em>taste </em>of the drinks people have around her. Same with Gemma and Haille. Both girls, several times, complain about how their coffees just don’t taste right when Chloe is in a bad mood.</p>
<p>So her power isn’t just limited to wilting flowers, though she now has a collection of them. The kitchen in her penthouse, which she never uses, is covered in them.</p>
<p>When she realizes that her power isn’t limited to flowers, she decides to test its boundary. In the clearing, with the flowers, it extended just a few feet, but she wasn’t feeling particularly sad then. So she spends a night drinking and thinking about all the things she’ll never get to do with Lucifer since he’s not here.</p>
<p>That’s the first time the angels notice that something is <em>clearly </em>wrong. Apparently, fires aren’t a thing in Heaven, and she just sets the nightclub—thankfully, not Lux—she’s in on fire, burning more than a few of the customers. Even though their injuries heal just as soon as they leave her presence, and the fire stops when she realizes, in shock, what she’s done, now they <em>know. </em></p>
<p>Amenadiel visits her at the penthouse in the morning as she’s standing by Lucifer’s bar, staring at the coffee cups lined up on the balcony. He stops briefly, brows arched.</p>
<p>“Can you check if the coffees are black?” she asks Amenadiel, not even moving from her spot. He’s surprised, to say the least.</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>“Can you just do it?” She must’ve sounded harsh enough because the angel walks to the balcony. Chloe waits impatiently but she doesn’t want to get closer. She needs to test the boundary of her “anti-Heaven effect”, as she calls it, and getting closer to the cups won’t help with that.</p>
<p>“Uh, yeah. They’re all black,” Amenadiel calls out. A smile pulls Chloe’s lips as she watches him walk back into the penthouse. “Were they not supposed to be?”</p>
<p>She shrugged. “No, I hoped they were.” Amenadiel blinks.</p>
<p>“But you hate black coffee.”</p>
<p>“Exactly.” Chloe grins and takes out her notepad, quickly writing down her new test. She’s already twenty pages into the notebook. Her crowning achievement, though, is still the burning bar.</p>
<p>“So you turned them into black coffee from…there?” Chloe looks up, her eyes narrowed. She doesn’t know how much she wants to reveal to Amenadiel. “And when you put that nightclub on fire—you knew that would happen?”</p>
<p>She hears judgment in the angel’s voice, but she doesn’t care. She just shrugs. “What can I say? Bad things happen when I’m sad.” She puts her notepad down as a semblance of hope blooms in her chest. “Wait, did God send you here to check on me? Because I’m causing stuff like that?” She didn’t think her plan would work this quickly. Could she have already caught God’s attention?</p>
<p>“No, he’s not aware of it yet. A few of the angels noticed, though, and I came because…” He hesitates. “Well, they thought a familiar face might be able to help you get over whatever you were going through.”</p>
<p>“What I’m going through?” She can’t keep the sarcasm off of her voice. Lucifer would’ve been proud. “You don’t even know half of it.”</p>
<p>“Chloe, I understand—”</p>
<p>“No, you don’t! How can you even understand when you’re allowed to come to Heaven whenever you want? When you can just go to earth to spend time with Charlie, and then come here to see your Dad and siblings, and everything’s all dandy and everyone’s happy.” Words spill out of her in a fit of rage and her fingers curl on the counter. She opens her mouth to continue, but then stops when she sees the sky behind Amenadiel. The sun is gone, replaced by storm clouds, lightning, and a pouring rain. Not the kind of beautiful, light rain that she’s seen in Heaven either, but a full-on rainstorm, the kind that people shut themselves in their houses for.</p>
<p>She quickly scrambles out, not even glancing at Amenadiel when he calls for her. It’s raining so much that she’s immediately soaked. Even squinting, she can’t see where the rain ends and the sun starts.</p>
<p>She laughs. Her first real laugh in weeks. The rain stops immediately, but she doesn’t even care. If she can’t even see the boundary of the rainstorm, that means the boundary of her powers must be increasing. She needs to try the flower field thing again.</p>
<p>“You think a rainstorm in Heaven will catch God’s attention?” she asks when Amenadiel steps into the balcony with her. He sighs.</p>
<p>“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” His voice is quiet and Chloe thinks she hears a hint of pride in there. “You want an audience with God, still.”</p>
<p>She crosses her arms. “I’ll bring Lucifer here, Amenadiel, one way or another. And if God refuses to listen to me, I won’t be one of his obedient humans and accept it.” She gestures at the now-sunny weather. “If this is what it takes to get his attention, I’ll continue. And do mention that to him.”</p>
<p>“Chloe, you know God is all powerful, right? He can probably fix it with a snap of his fingers.”</p>
<p><em>Oh, </em>Chloe thinks. She forgot about that.</p>
<p>But then…why hasn’t he, yet? If he knows, surely he would’ve done something about it by now. She arches a brow.</p>
<p>“Has anyone ever created a rainstorm in Heaven or set a building on fire?” she asks. Amenadiel face says it all. “So who knows whether he can fix this or not?”</p>
<p>She thought he would feel annoyed at her statement. Instead, a smile pulls Amenadiel’s lips. He puts a hand on her shoulder. “If anyone can bring Lucifer back here, Chloe, it’ll be you.” He stops for a second. “You didn’t hear it from me, but Dad always had a fascination with floods. Maybe he’ll take a note of that.”</p>
<p>Then he disappears in a flurry of wings, leaving Chloe staring at the spot he was just in, mouth agape.</p>
<p>Did God’s oldest son just give her permission to create a <em>flood </em>in heaven?</p>
<hr/>
<p>The boundary of Chloe’s power, she realizes, depends on just how bad she feels. If she’s merely down, nothing happens. When she crosses into grieving territory, the power extends a few feet around her. When her grief is mixed with anger, she can pretty much mojo anything within a twenty-feet radius. When she’s <em>furious, </em>though—when anger boils in her veins and she misses Lucifer so much that she thinks someone’s ripping her heart out—she doesn’t know whether her power <em>has</em> a limit. At least not one that she’s able to see.</p>
<p>Still, after the night at the bar and the next day with Amenadiel, she’s not able to bring out that side of her anymore. Isolating herself in her penthouse doesn’t really work as she tends to become numb with grief rather than angry. Gemma and Haille don’t really invite her out anymore so having <em>them </em>anger her out isn’t an option. Teatime with her ancestors also is a no go, though they now give her weird looks because she absolutely decimated their garden several times.</p>
<p>So she, once again, goes to the gates that separate God from humans. If there’s one thing that angers her the most, it’s thinking about how God cast Lucifer out of Heaven.</p>
<p>She touches the gates and pushes, trying to open them again. Of course, they don’t budge at all. A bit of fury explodes in her stomach.</p>
<p>It’s either her imagination, or the pearly white glow of the gates dull down a little bit. She clenches her teeth together and glares up at the mountain. “You’re a real fucking dick, you know that, right?” she says. For someone who doesn’t curse a lot, it comes easily to her lips when it’s deserved. “I don’t care what you think, but wanting freedom and rebelling for it doesn’t make someone evil. Our history, which <em>you </em>planned by the way, is filled with people rebelling against authority for freedom. And I don’t see you punishing <em>them </em>for it.”</p>
<p>She’s met more than a handful of history’s famous rebels in her time in Heaven. If rebellion was really so bad, why weren’t <em>they </em>punished, and Lucifer was?</p>
<p>Anger builds up in her veins. “And he’s your <em>son. </em>What kind of a parent does that to their own child?” She snorts and grimaces at the gates. She wonders whether God hears any of it. “But you don’t care, do you? The almighty God, sitting up on your throne, thinking you’re the pinnacle of good and right. Well, guess what, dickhead? You’re <em>neither </em>of those things. Lucifer is ten times the man…” She stops for a second and amends her words. “Ten times the being you are, and he deserves to be here more than anything.” She grasps the gates tightly. Now she’s sure they’re dimmer—they look gray rather than white.</p>
<p> She lets fury dance in her veins as tears fill her eyes. “You know, for a second I thought you might actually be good,” she confesses, her voice shaky now. “When Lucifer proposed to me. I thought that if you put me on earth, then maybe you do want Lucifer to be happy. As much as I hated being your olive branch or whatever, it was my glimmer of hope, thinking you didn’t actually hate your son. But I was wrong.” She gulps several times, trying to get the words straight in her head. With grief and rage mixing inside her, it’s hard to remember what she’s even saying. “What was the point of putting me there if you were going to take me from him? Was it just some sort of a sick ploy? Were you playing with him, to see if you could hurt him more than you already did? See if you could cause him even more pain?”</p>
<p>Tears are falling down her cheeks now and she doesn’t stop them. But she doesn’t unleash her emotions either. She thinks she might set everything on fire again if she does, and that’s not what she’s here for. She <em>knows </em>she can control what happens around her if she focuses her moods enough, as she proved with the coffee Amenadiel checked, but she has to stay patient. She has to let the fury simmer enough. Calling a flood isn’t the same thing as transforming non-fat almond milk latte into black coffee.</p>
<p>“You know what? I <em>hate </em>you,” she spits out, hitting her palm against the gate. “Even if you send me in Hell for it. I don’t <em>care </em>anymore. At least then, I’ll be able to see Lucifer again.”</p>
<p>She presses her lips together, closes her eyes, and focuses with all her might into a flood. Then she screams, letting every bit of fury, pain, and grief inside her unleash.</p>
<p>It seems she was right about two things: she <em>can </em>call a flood, and her powers really doesn’t have a limit if she’s emotional enough.</p>
<p>When she returns to her neighborhood, the last dregs of the flood still wet the pavement, and she sees all of her neighbors crowded at the nearest hill, fear evident in their eyes even at this distance.</p>
<p>Back on earth, she might’ve felt bad about what she did. Now, she knows they’ll recover in less than an hour, and all they need will be provided instantaneously. She’s not worried about the residents of Heaven.</p>
<p>And she’s willing to do <em>anything </em>to get Lucifer what <em>he </em>deserves.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Amenadial was right. God <em>does </em>take an interest in floods, and when an entire city in <em>Heaven </em>is flooded, it piques his attention.</p>
<p>Remiel visits her that night, after she’s recovering from the flood she created. It didn’t hurt her, at all, but she’s emotionally spent. She’s sitting in her penthouse with a towel wrapped around her, a framed photo of her and Lucifer in her hand, when the angel pops into the room.</p>
<p>She doesn’t even spare her a glance. A tear falls onto Lucifer’s face on the photo. She gently wipes it away.</p>
<p>“This is…odd,” Remiel comments, looking around the room. Chloe realizes the penthouse is wrapped in darkness. She wipes away her tears and tries to keep her emotions in check.</p>
<p>Some light returns. “Sorry about that,” she mutters, though she doesn’t mean it. “They tend to do that when I’m grieving.”</p>
<p>“You mean you <em>call upon </em>the darkness?” Chloe gapes at Remiel.</p>
<p>“I just called a damn flood into your city, and you’re talking about a little <em>darkness?” </em>Remiel’s brows climb to her forehead, and she realizes that the angel didn’t know she did it on purpose. Didn’t know Chloe was even capable of it. “Isn’t that why you’re here? To tell me to <em>stop ruining Heaven?”</em></p>
<p>“I…didn’t know that was possible,” Remiel says, making her way to Chloe’s bedroom. (A bedroom she once shared with Lucifer, she wistfully thinks.) “Dad just told me to check up on you. I didn’t question why; I thought the flood was a freak accident or something.”</p>
<p>“Nope. Apparently bad feelings and Heaven don’t mix well,” Chloe comments humorlessly as she watches Remiel settle on her bed. She frowns. It just feels <em>wrong </em>to have another angel there, but she’s so spent that she doesn’t want to antagonize her.</p>
<p>“You’re angry?” Remiel questions, eyes wide. “But…why? You’re in Heaven.”</p>
<p>“Right, and I’m supposed to be happy because I have everything I <em>desire, </em>right?” The word feels sour on her tongue. She misses Lucifer so much that at this point, it’s a constant ache in her heart. No wonder her penthouse succumbs to darkness so often. “Well, guess what? Physical possession means nothing when you can’t have the person you love with you.”</p>
<p>“You mean…Lucifer?” Remiel sounds puzzled, as if she can’t believe anyone actually loves Lucifer, and anger builds in Chloe’s stomach. She directs it to the glass sitting on her bedside table.</p>
<p>It shatters, making Remiel jump up. Chloe directs a cold gaze back to her. “Is that answer enough for you?”</p>
<p>“Got it.” Chloe thinks she sounds thinner than before. “So you called the flood on purpose…to get Dad’s attention?”</p>
<p>“If that’s the only way he’ll see me. And by the way, do let him know I’ll keep doing it until he lets Lucifer into Heaven. Because I’m assuming, since he hasn’t stopped me yet, that he actually can’t.” She knows Amenadiel said God can technically stop it, but maybe he really <em>can’t</em>. It’s just a guess, but it seems like she’s right because Remiel blanches. She arches a brow. “He can’t stop me, can he? He’s not as omnipotent as he says he is.”</p>
<p>“Well, he <em>is. </em>On earth,” Remiel admits, brushing what looks like glass pieces off of her dress. “Heaven and Hell are different. They’re in the celestial world, meaning Dad’s more like an emperor here than real powerful being. Not that it’s been a problem for us before. People are usually happy to be in Heaven and we have demons in Hell to keep the souls in check.”</p>
<p>“So you’ve never had a wayward unhappy soul in Heaven that caused massive destruction?”</p>
<p>“Sometimes people have meltdowns and burn their chair or something, but not a flood, no. And they were quickly sated anyway.” Chloe opens her mouth to say, considering just how old Heaven is, that it’s impossible. Then she stops and remembers just how much focus and anger it required her to <em>call </em>the flood. The worst she did unintentionally was causing a rainstorm for a solid five seconds. “So I’m here to ask you if there’s anything I can do to help.”</p>
<p>“You can tell God to let Lucifer into Heaven.” Remiel’s face sours.</p>
<p>“Except <em>that</em>,” she mutters. “That’s impossible, Chloe.” Her tone is resigned and another flare of anger bursts in her. This time, she directs it to Remiel’s dress.</p>
<p>It bursts into flames for a second, causing the angel to yelp, before Chloe smothers it. Remiel isn’t hurt at all, except her dress now has burn holes in it. “What are you <em>doing?”</em></p>
<p>“Well, you came here to help me stop this, right? And I told you my condition. Bring back Lucifer, or else a flood will be the least of your worries.” A cold smile creeps itself onto her face. “People always talk about Hell freezing over. I wonder if the same applies to <em>Heaven</em>.”</p>
<p>Remiel looks pale and directs an angry gaze at Chloe. “I’ll ask Dad,” she says between her teeth, and then in a flurry of feathers, she disappears.</p>
<p>Chloe’s anger dissipates instantly, leaving its place to exhaustion. She takes Lucifer’s picture in her hands again and rubs his face with her thumb. “I’ll get you back in here, Lucifer,” she whispers, a wet smile on her face. “I promise.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Family</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>another long-ish chapter, this time from Lucifer's perspective! </p>
<p>also, a reminder - this is a few years in the future, so Trixie is high school age at this point. just in case she sounds older than in the show, i wanted to make that clear.</p>
<p>another reminder - i love Ella. she's the best. that's it. that's the reminder.</p>
<p>hope you like this!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Lucifer</em>
</p>
<p>After Chloe’s death, Ella was the first to arrive at the scene. Lucifer had no idea how she even knew since she’s a CSI and even though Chloe asked for backup from LAPD, a CSI would have no reason to come. Besides, for a solid two or so minutes, he couldn’t even <em>hear </em>most of what the woman was babbling about. “Rae Rae told me you needed help,” “Holy mother of God, you have <em>wings</em>,” and “is that <em>Chloe</em>?” was all he heard through his shock.</p>
<p>Then Ella was in front of him, taking his face in her hands, yelling at him. “Lucifer, listen to me,” she begged, tears shining in her eyes, her irises reflecting Lucifer’s luminous feathers. “You need to get rid of your wings. LAPD is coming. Do you understand me? You need to retract your wings, please, put them wherever you usually put them. They can’t see you like this.”</p>
<p>In any other situation, Lucifer would’ve been impressed at her ability to compartmentalize. In about five seconds, she found out that Lucifer <em>was </em>actually the Devil, as he always claimed, Chloe was gone, and she was the only one that was between the whole LAPD discovering divinity. At that moment, though, Lucifer barely registered her words.</p>
<p>What stuck with him was the way Ella talked about his <em>wings. </em>She didn’t completely shut down like Linda, ran away like Chloe, or tried to shoot him like Dan. By all accounts, she just had an “Oh” moment when everything about Lucifer clicked in her head, and then she went into business mode.</p>
<p>If anyone else walked through that door other than Ella, Lucifer thinks they might’ve failed to bring him back from his shock and have him hide his wings. The only reason LAPD didn’t know about divinity was Ella.</p>
<p>After that, Ella became a frequent visitor to Lucifer’s new place. (The penthouse reminded him too much of Chloe and he couldn’t bear to be there yet.) She is grieving herself and more often than not, her eyes are red and puffy when she comes, but she is still <em>there. </em>Without her, without Linda or Maze’s more infrequent visits, without Amenadiel coming to check up on him every now and then—Lucifer still didn’t gather enough courage to ask him about Chloe, and he didn’t talk about her or Heaven either—Lucifer would’ve been completely alone, just like he was when he first fell from Heaven.</p>
<p>He isn’t alone, sure, but he has never felt more <em>lonely</em>. None of them understand him like Chloe did, or can give him what he had with Chloe. He knows it’s unfair to ask them for it, even, yet their presence sometimes reminds him of exactly what he <em>can’t </em>have anymore, and it <em>hurts. </em></p>
<p>It’s been seventeen days, and it still hurts just as much as it did the first day, and maybe even more.</p>
<p>When Ella visits Lucifer that day, he hasn’t even left the bed yet. It’s around 5 pm, right around when Ella leaves work, and he’s been awake since ten, curled up under multiple blankets—he didn’t know what cold felt like until now, and he hates it—shivering and crying. His pillow is perpetually wet at this point and he hasn’t even bothered to change it.</p>
<p>Ella uses the spare key under his doormat to enter. “Lucifer?” she calls out, faking a chirpy tone. “You in here? Tonight was supposed to be our movie night but you didn’t come to work, so I assumed…”</p>
<p>Oh. Movie night. Lucifer totally forgot he even said <em>yes </em>to that. What a stupid idea.</p>
<p>“Anyway, I thought you might want to stay in tonight, and I totally get it. I’m not in the mood to watch a thriller right now anyway. You should’ve seen the victim we had today. Head blown to bits. I literally had to clean <em>brain pieces </em>off the walls.” Ella’s footsteps are coming closer to the bedroom. Lucifer wistfully thinks that a month ago, he would be there with Ella at the crime scene, probably making an insensitive joke about the brain pieces. A month ago, Chloe would be there to punch him in the arm and chide him for it, yet with a smile on her face that told him she found it funny, too.</p>
<p>A month ago, he would’ve gotten out of bed, with Chloe by his side, to head to work. Like always. Like it was their normal.</p>
<p>But that was all a month ago. Now Chloe was gone, and nothing…nothing was normal anymore.  </p>
<p>“You have Netflix, right? I heard there’s this new comedy. Totally platonic. Thought we might enjoy…” Ella’s words trail off as she appears in front of the bedroom door, staring at the lump on the bed that’s Lucifer. He knows only his mop of hair can be seen underneath all the blankets. It’s a curly mess, not seeing any products since…</p>
<p>Pain flashes in Ella’s eyes, but she quickly hides it behind a fake smile. “Or we can just rest in bed as well. You know, I was feeling a bit cold myself.”</p>
<p>“Ella,” Lucifer says softly, finally pushing away the blankets. (At some point in the previous two weeks, <em>Miss Lopez </em>became Ella to him. Maybe it was the woman’s constant presence. Maybe it was that they primarily met up outside of work. Maybe Lucifer wanted to distance himself from anything police related, meaning Ella wasn’t a coworker anymore. And people don’t call their friends by their last names. Regardless, he struggles to see her as anything but Ella now.) “Apologies for forgetting our movie night. I was…”</p>
<p><em>Grieving my fiancée’s death by moping in bed. </em>Somehow, it doesn’t feel like the right thing to say.</p>
<p>In any case, Ella understands. With a shrug, she gingerly sits next to Lucifer on the bed and plops two bags of popcorn next to her. Her eyes are open and sad as they study him.</p>
<p>“Do you want a hug?”</p>
<p>If <em>Ella the hug queen </em>is asking him if he wants a hug rather than just going for it, he must look really bad. He rubs his face as he sits up. His instinct is to say no—he was never a big fan of hugs before the Detective—yet he finds himself nodding. Ella shifts on the bed and wraps her arms around Lucifer, pulling him into a tight embrace. His tears wet the woman’s light blue t-shirt.</p>
<p>The confession tumbles out of his lips. “I can’t get rid of the nightmares,” he murmurs to Ella’s ear, vision blurry as he stares at the wall across from him. It’s the first time he told anyone about them.</p>
<p>“Huh. Who knew the Devil could have nightmares?” Ella jokes as she pulls back, but it falls flat. Lucifer just stares at her blankly. She grimaces. “Sorry. Sometimes I don’t think before I speak, and you know, it’s still mind blowing to think I’m in the same room as the Devil—not that you need to hear that. Yeah, I’m gonna shut up now.” She awkwardly clears her throat and looks away for a second to gather herself.</p>
<p>She misses just the barest hint of a smile Lucifer gives. “It’s fine, Ella,” he offers her. “Hearing you talk is…nice.” That’s the best adjective he can come up with. <em>No wonder Azrael loves Ella so much,</em> he thinks not for the first time. The girl is a bright light in Lucifer’s dark days.</p>
<p>Ella blinks at him, eyes wide. “That was the last thing I expected you to say,” she admits, bluntly honest as always. “I just feel like I’m always blurting out something inappropriate about you being the Devil because <em>holy shit, </em>you’re him and that means God and angels and Heaven and Hell are all real and it’s just…hard to wrap my mind around it sometimes.”</p>
<p>“You’re still taking it much better than anyone else did.” Lucifer shrugs, not wanting to think about how Linda, Chloe, or even Dan reacted after finding out. Ella doesn’t look convinced, though.</p>
<p>“This is me taking it <em>better</em>? Blurting out insensitive stuff about your identity?”</p>
<p>“Well, you did help me with my wings when…” He pales and the rest of the words get stuck in his throat. He gulps before he’s able to continue. “Linda outright refused to see me for two weeks and Chloe left for a month, only to come back to try to <em>kill</em> me.”</p>
<p>“Holy mother of God, really? You can <em>die?” </em>Ella slaps a hand over her mouth. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to ask that.”</p>
<p>Lucifer just shrugs, eyes glassy. He stares at the wall again, fingers curling around his blanket. He doesn’t even have the energy to tell Ella it’s okay. “Dad doesn’t actually have a mother,” he points outs and stops for a second. “There are very few things that can kill me, but yes. I can die.”</p>
<p>“And do you, uh…” From Ella’s hesitation, Lucifer can tell it won’t be a pleasant question. But she pushes through and he thinks it’s one of the questions she’s been dying to ask, but didn’t think would be appropriate. “How does afterlife work for you? Or for humans? I mean, who decides who goes to Hell and who goes to Heaven?”</p>
<p>Lucifer’s heart cracks and it’s a struggle to keep his tears at bay. Yet Ella is looking at him expectantly and he decides to answer the easier part of the question first.</p>
<p>“People go to Hell if they feel guilty about something they’ve done. Kind of like how people talk about guilt eating them up. Well, in Hell, that’s literally what it does.” He glances at Ella when her face pales. “Do not worry, Ella. I don’t think you’ll be going to Hell.”</p>
<p>“You don’t know everything about me, Lucifer.”</p>
<p>“But I know enough.” Really, if Ella goes to Hell, the system is more messed up than Lucifer already thought. “And I don’t lie, remember?” He stays silent, waiting for Ella to process the words. Then he pushes through the disgust that coils his stomach and continues. He can’t even look at Ella anymore.</p>
<p>“Angels can be killed with hell-forged blades, which sends them back to Heaven. Azrael’s blade is the one weapon that would decimate their soul. No Heaven, no Hell, nothing after that. That’s the only way to truly destroy an angel.” He stops, fingers curling around his blanket. His nails cut through the soft fabric and bite into his palms.</p>
<p>“But that’s a good thing, right? That means you can go to Heaven to be with Chloe when you…” Ella’s voice trails off when she sees Lucifer’s face break. “Can you?” she whispers, as if she’s afraid to hear the answer.</p>
<p>“I’m the Devil, darling. The only afterlife for me is Hell.” His voice is so quiet that he’s not sure if Ella hears it at all until she gasps. He doesn’t have the strength to look up at her. Instead he stares at the wall, gulping back the bile that rises in his throat. The words are shaky when they finally come out. “Chloe’s in Heaven and… I’m trying to be happy for her. The Silver City is a beautiful place. She’ll be able to get everything she wants. She’s with her father. And every night, before I go to sleep, I tell myself that I should be happy that she’s happy. Then I wake up and all I remember is how I will never get to see her again. And all I feel is <em>pain.</em>” A whoosh sound he barely hears fills the room. Ella gasps again and he realizes his wings are out.</p>
<p>“Lucifer, your wings…”</p>
<p>He presses his lips together. He doesn’t have the energy to put them back. “Apologies. They tend to do that when I’m upset.”</p>
<p>“No, I mean…” Ella reaches out a tentative hand. Her fingers hover right above the feathers and she turns to him, questions in her eyes. Just years ago, Lucifer would’ve balked at the idea of anyone touching his wings. Then Chloe crashed into his life and turned it upside down. He remembers nights they would rest on the couch, his wings wrapped around her to keep her warm. He remembers how gentle she was with his feathers, running her fingers through them, awe apparent in her gaze. He remembers how she not only accepted his wings but appreciated them, not because they were beautiful but because they were <em>his. </em></p>
<p>No one but Trixie touched his wings since Chloe died, and when Ella’s fingers dip into his gray feathers, he remembers just how much he missed it. His eyes drift shut and for a brief moment, he imagines it’s Chloe stroking his feathers.</p>
<p>Then Ella speaks and the dream crumbles. “Your wings turned grey,” she comments, her voice pained. “I thought they were…”</p>
<p>“White and luminous?” Lucifer croaks, a painful smile on his face. He opens his eyes to face Ella. “Who knew grief took a toll on my wings as well?” The joke falls flat as he collapses his wings back into his back. Ella reaches forward and wipes his cheeks.</p>
<p>“Lucifer, I’m so sorry.” She shakes her head and looks up at the ceiling. “I shouldn’t have asked about the angel stuff. You’re grieving and here I am, making it worse. I should’ve kept my mouth shut, and—”</p>
<p>“Ella, it’s okay,” Lucifer interrupts before the woman can go down that hole. He’s not lying, either. At this point, he’s sick of everyone walking on eggshells around him. No one ever mentions Chloe; sometimes, they don’t speak at all, worrying about saying the wrong thing. Ella is kind of a breath of fresh air with her bluntness. “I told you; I like listening to you. It’s better than silence.” <em>Better than being alone with my thoughts. </em>“And I’m sure Chloe would’ve wanted us to stick together.”</p>
<p>“Yeah.” Ella quickly wipes away her own tears. “Yeah, you’re right. Uh…” She looks around and grabs one of the popcorn packages. “So, what do you say to a movie night? I promise I’ll choose something that’s full of sound and music. Oh, like a musical, maybe?” Lucifer just gapes at her. “Or…not a musical? Whatever—” Ella’s words are cut by another whoosh sound. Lucifer, at first, assumes it’s his wings again but Ella isn’t looking at him. Her eyes are focused somewhere above Lucifer’s shoulder and her brows climb to her forehead. “You know, I forgot Amenadiel was an angel as well.”</p>
<p>Then Lucifer looks behind him, only to see Amenadiel with his wings out, smiling. He frowns. Sure, it isn’t that weird that his brother came to visit, but he never…<em>angeled </em>into the room.</p>
<p>“Brother?” Lucifer’s voice was hoarse as he tries to straighten up. “What are you doing here?”</p>
<p>“I come with good news,” he says and steps into the room. Lucifer is ready to roll his eyes and tell him <em>nothing </em>can be good news right now, but Amenadiel beats him to it.</p>
<p>“Luci, our father is inviting you back into Heaven.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Lucifer doesn’t believe it at first. It’s <em>impossible. </em>It’s been thousands and thousands of years and never <em>once </em>his father ever budged from his position and even implied that he’s willing to let Lucifer back. All he’s done for him was to send Chloe—and look how <em>that</em> ended—and ask him to deal with his mother. Other than that, not a word.</p>
<p>And <em>now, </em>after all that time, God is extending a hand to Lucifer? He doesn’t believe it.</p>
<p>It’s Ella that breaks the silence, and Lucifer is grateful. “Wait, your father meaning God. Like, the God of all universe. Like, the guy who made everything and who listens to prayers—”</p>
<p>“He doesn’t bloody <em>listen</em> to prayers,” Lucifer snaps, fresh tears filling his eyes. Ella stops, mouth agape, and shuffles back slightly. Lucifer doesn’t care. His nails rip the blanket underneath him again as he looks up at his brother. “If this is your way of messing with me—”</p>
<p>“Lucifer, I wouldn’t do that to you.” Amenadiel’s voice is genuine as he sits on the bed. “This is not a joke. Our father will let you back into Heaven.” He smiles and his eyes tell Lucifer that this isn’t a joke, or a lie, or some sort of ploy to hurt him more. Amenadiel is…honest.</p>
<p>He hates it, but hope blossoms in his chest. If this is true, he’ll be able to see Chloe again, and the possibility of it brings such an ache to his chest that he feels paralyzed for a second. Blinking furiously, he tries to squash his hope before it grows too much. If he thinks he can see Chloe again and then it turns out to be a lie…</p>
<p>He thinks it will destroy him.</p>
<p>“He’s letting me back in out of the goodness of his heart?” he asks, voice trembling. “He hasn’t budged for thousands of years and now, for some reason he’s just…” He can’t even continue. He shakes his head and shut his eyes. “Father doesn’t do that. Where’s the catch, brother?” Because Lucifer is sure there <em>must </em>be a catch—a reason that his father is offering him this after such a long time.</p>
<p>“Well…” Amenadiel hesitates for a while, but then he decides honesty is the best policy. “He’s offering you a deal. He’ll let you back into Heaven…if you give up your celestial body.”</p>
<p>Lucifer’s hands unfurl. He gapes at Amenadiel without understanding. “He wants me to be human?” he asks. He didn’t even know that was possible. He never thought…</p>
<p>“Father isn’t exactly…<em>happy </em>about the offer.” Lucifer wants to snort, but he keeps himself in check. “But at this point, his hand is forced. He has to let you back in—”</p>
<p>“But doesn’t want me to access his private mountains,” Lucifer spits out, lips curling into a small sneer. Amenadiel doesn’t deny it. Lucifer shakes his head, tears threatening to fall again. “Is this some sort of a manipulation tactic again to make me a human? So he can send me to Hell and torture me for another eternity as some sort of a twisted punishment?”</p>
<p>“Lucifer…” Amenadiel looks desperate, and that’s exactly when Ella pipes in.</p>
<p>“Wait, <em>God’s hand is forced? </em>How is that even possible?<em>” </em>she asks, her voice small, as if she’s trying to clarify what must be a blatant oxymoron in her mind. Who <em>can </em>force an omnipotent God to do something he doesn’t want?</p>
<p>Lucifer wants to hear the answer to the question, too. He’s surprised that there’s pride in Amenadiel’s eyes when he turns back to Lucifer. “A new development in Heaven forced his hand. As it turns out, Father isn’t omnipotent in the celestial dimension as he likes to pretend.”</p>
<p>“He’s…not?” It sounds like a big fat joke to Lucifer.</p>
<p>“Remi figured it out when he failed to stop a flood from decimating a neighborhood.” Lucifer’s brows climbed to his forehead.</p>
<p>“Heaven doesn’t have <em>floods</em>.”</p>
<p>“That’s what we thought, too. Imagine our surprise.” Then, Amenadiel’s face splits into a grin. “Your fiancée is a marvel, brother.”</p>
<p>Lucifer’s world tilts. He thinks he would’ve fell onto the bed if Ella’s fingers didn’t snake around his arm. Her eyes, though, are on Amenadiel. “Did you just say Chloe caused a flood in Heaven like some sort of a Noah’s Ark situation?” Lucifer wanted to ask the same question, but he can’t find his voice. He only looks at his brother, heart pounding and hands shaking, aching to hear the answer.</p>
<p>“Heaven is attuned to people’s emotions. Our father created it that way, so that people can get whatever they ask for at a moment’s notice. We just figured out that it means it’s attuned to people’s <em>bad </em>emotions as well. Grief and anger basically become weapons in Heaven if they’re wielded by someone who knows what they’re doing.”</p>
<p><em>Grief and anger… </em>Something twists Lucifer’s heart. “Chloe isn’t happy?” he asks, afraid to hear the answer.</p>
<p>“She’s been grieving you, Lucifer,” Amenadiel admits. Lucifer’s shoulders sag in relief, and the next second he feels horrible about it. Just because he’s hurting doesn’t mean he has the right to want her to grieve as well. Besides, it’s Heaven. Chloe shouldn’t have been sad.</p>
<p>Ella’s hand creeps up Lucifer’s shoulder as a show of support. “Of course she’s grieving,” she snorts and for once, Lucifer senses anger in her voice. “God basically kicked her love out of Heaven and now she can’t see him for the rest of eternity.” She rubs Lucifer’s shoulder and he feels at least slightly better about himself. He looks up at his brother.</p>
<p>“You mean Chloe’s grief causes floods, so father wants me back to stop them?”</p>
<p>“Not exactly.” Lucifer thinks he hears amusement in Amenadiel’s voice. “Chloe isn’t a passive element in this. She figured out she can cause disasters if she’s angry enough, and she’s been using it to get God’s attention, so that she can ask him to bring you back. She’s been looking for a way to do that since she died.”</p>
<p>Lucifer…doesn’t know what to even say to that. All this time that he thought Chloe was happy and content, she’s been looking for ways to be with him. She refused to be a passive player, acted out, and…apparently got God’s attention. Enough that he’s offering Lucifer a deal to come back to Heaven. <em>Chloe Decker</em>, a human, stood up to God and got what she wanted.</p>
<p>The corners of his mouth tip up. “She’s incredible,” he whispers, unable to come up with anything else to say. Amenadiel chuckles.</p>
<p>“That I agree with. A whole horde of angels visited her before Father sent me here, and she refused to budge.” He stops for a second. “By the way, I don’t mean to rush you, but Heaven is about to freeze over, and Father kind of put a time limit on the deal. And Luci, I know being human might not be the ideal solution—”</p>
<p>“I’ll do it,” Lucifer says, without even thinking. His eyes turn to his brother. His lower lip is trembling as he continues. “I don’t care about being an angel. All the bloody good that did me. At least now I’ll be free of Father.” He stops and his eyes water. “And I’ll be with Chloe. I’ll do it.”</p>
<p>He knows that the Devil from ten years ago would’ve never said yes to that deal. But Chloe changed him and now, he’ll take being human and being with Chloe over anything earth might offer him as the Devil.</p>
<p>“Lucifer?” Ella’s soft voice take him out of his thoughts. He looks down at the woman to see tears in her eyes. At first, he’s confused, but then it hits her.</p>
<p>Going to Heaven now means leaving behind his friends on earth. Ella, Linda, Maze, Dan, Trixie… He hasn’t thought of them at all and guilt churns in his stomach—</p>
<p>“Don’t worry about us,” Ella says, cupping his cheek. “We’ll be fine, and we’ll join you there in time. I promise. Go be with Chloe before she <em>actually </em>freezes Heaven because you and I both know she would do that to get you back.” She then jumps on him and wraps her arms around his shoulders. “I can say your goodbyes for you. I promise. Just go.”</p>
<p>Lucifer nods, tears streaming down his face again. He pulls back and look at Ella’s face. He offers her a smile. “I’ll keep you to that promise,” he tells her with a small grin, “now that I won’t be there to pull you up from Hell if you go there. So bloody try not to, okay?”</p>
<p>Ella laughs and wipes at her eyes. “It’s a deal.” She then steps back, giving Amenadiel and Lucifer some space. Lucifer takes a deep breath and turns to his brother.</p>
<p>“I’m…” He’s about to say he’s ready when his voice trails off and he thinks of something. His heart constricts and he looks up at Amenadiel. “Just how much time do we have?”</p>
<p>“Enough to visit someone, if that’s what you want.” Lucifer’s shoulders relax and he nods. He takes Amenadiel’s hand and brings out his wings.</p>
<p>Before the two fly off, he glances back at Ella. She has a dopey grin on her face. She gestures at his wings. “They’re white again, Lucifer,” she says. “It’s a shame you won’t have them anymore.” But everything on her face tells him that she’s not sad about it at all. She’s just happy for him.</p>
<p>“Thank you, Ella. For everything,” he offers. It isn’t enough, not by a close shot, but it has to be. Ella just shrugs.</p>
<p>“See you on the flip side.”</p>
<p>Then Lucifer and Amenadiel fly off, to make one final visit before they go up to Heaven.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Lucifer could’ve visited everyone. Linda was a strong option and he really wanted to see Charlie again. He knew Maze would’ve wanted a proper goodbye, and even though their relationship crumbled in the final few years, he still considers her one of his closest companions. Yet he knows there’s one person he <em>can’t</em> move on without seeing.</p>
<p>Trixie is on the beach when Lucifer and Amenadiel arrive. Amenadiel slows down time briefly so that Lucifer can take Trixie to a more secluded place.</p>
<p>When Trixie comes back to herself, she looks up and her eyes light up when she sees Lucifer. “Lucifer!” And she lunges into his chest, wrapping her arms around his shoulder. She’s considerably older now and she can reach around his neck by going up to her tiptoes, yet her enthusiasm is still the same.</p>
<p>There was a time Lucifer hated Trixie’s hugs. Now, he welcomes it and hugs her back tightly. This goodbye will be the hardest he’ll have to make.</p>
<p>“What are you doing here? I thought…” She pulls back, and her eyes fall on his wings. “Your <em>wings.” </em>She sounds just as mesmerized as Ella just did. “They’re so pretty.”</p>
<p>“Thank you, little human,” he jokes and Trixie rolls her eyes. When she crosses her arms and glares at Lucifer, she reminds him of Chloe.</p>
<p>“You know I’m not so little anymore, right? I’m starting high school next year.”</p>
<p>“Well, considering I’m the Devil, all humans seem small to me,” Lucifer jokes. A snort escapes Trixie’s mouth. He smiles down at her amused expression briefly, but then the happiness slips off of his face. There really isn’t a good way to say this, but he’s running out of time. He takes a page out of Ella’s no-filter book. “Beatrice, I’m here to say goodbye,” he says, voice filled with grief. Trixie’s face falls almost immediately. She frowns and uncrosses her arms.</p>
<p>“What do you mean <em>goodbye? </em>You’re leaving?”</p>
<p>“My father just offered me a way into Heaven.” Trixie’s eyes widen but she doesn’t comment on it. “But he wants me to be a human, and that means I won’t be able to come and go whenever I want. I will have to stay there.”</p>
<p>Trixie’s expression crumbles and Lucifer sees accusation in her eyes. As if she’s asking, <em>you’re leaving me, too? </em>His heart cracks.</p>
<p>“But can’t you wait?” she asks desperately, searching Lucifer’s face. “You can go when I’m older, right? You can wait for me to grow up?”</p>
<p>“I wish I could.” And Lucifer knows that if his father’s deal was timeless, he would’ve taken Trixie up on her offer. He lifts a hand and cups the girl’s cheek. “Beatrice, I’m the Devil and this is a one-time deal. My only chance to go to Heaven and be with your mom. And I know it’s selfish to leave everyone behind, to leave you behind so soon after…” He chokes on the next words. Even now, he realizes, he can’t say it. “But if I don’t do this, then…”</p>
<p>“Then you can’t see Mom. Ever,” Trixie finishes his words. She still looks betrayed, but understanding fills her eyes. “And I won’t be able to see you forever either when I die.”</p>
<p>Lucifer nods, not trusting his voice. Trixie takes a deep breath and wipes her cheeks. “I get it, Lucifer,” she says, even though her voice is strained with tears. “You have to go so we all can have an eternity together.”</p>
<p>Relief floods Lucifer’s shoulders. He was terrified that Trixie would hate him for leaving, but…</p>
<p>“Can you tell Mom that I love her and I miss her?” she asks in a small voice. “And that I wish she was here?” Her lower lip wobbles and Lucifer’s heart breaks again. He nods and wraps the girl in her arms, adding the weight of his wings for comfort.</p>
<p>“And can you tell Maze that I’m sorry I couldn’t say goodbye?” After all these years, Maze and Trixie are still close friends. “I was on a time limit, and…”</p>
<p>Trixie pulls back slightly to look at Lucifer. “And you chose me?” she asks, gratitude audible in her voice. Lucifer smiles down at her and nods.</p>
<p>“You’re family, little urchin. I couldn’t very well leave without saying goodbye, right?” Trixie rolls her eyes at the nickname, but a smile sneaks up on her face. She reaches up to run a hand down Lucifer’s arm, and then moves to his wing. Her touch is soft on his feathers.</p>
<p>“Does that mean you won’t have wings anymore?” she asks, looking slightly troubled. Lucifer smiles down at her.</p>
<p>“When you join us in Heaven, I’m sure we can arrange for you to have wings of your own,” he says. Trixie’s eyes light up. “And my brother Amenadiel would be more than willing to have you pet his wings. His son is all over them all the time anyway.”</p>
<p>Trixie looks up somewhere above Lucifer’s shoulder, and he knows Amenadiel is there. Her eyes fill with pain. “Is it time?” she asks, but the question isn’t directed at Lucifer.</p>
<p>Amenadiel joins them and nods solemnly. “It’s nice to see you, Trixie,” Amenadiel offers with a smile. Trixie nods and steps back, giving the two brothers some space.</p>
<p>“Say hi to my mom. And grandpa,” she adds, not caring about the tears that are now streaming down her face, nonstop. “And take care of Mom. Make sure she’s happy, or I’ll give you Hell when I’m there.”</p>
<p>Amenadiel’s brows climb to his forehead, as if he’s thinking about how Chloe is giving exactly that to Heaven right now. Lucifer grins at him. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, brother.”</p>
<p>“I can see that.” Amenadiel sounds amused. He then turns to Lucifer and offers him a hand, again. “Are you ready, Luci?”</p>
<p>Lucifer takes a deep breath and looks at Trixie. Her arms are wrapped around herself, as if she’s shivering, but there’s a smile on her face. He mirrors her smile. “I will see you again, Beatrice,” he promises. She nods.</p>
<p>“And you don’t lie,” she whispers. Lucifer’s smile widens. “See you later, Lucifer.”</p>
<p>Then, Lucifer nods at his brother, his heart soaring already in anticipation of seeing Chloe. Amenadiel’s hand tightens around his, and then they fly to Heaven.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chances</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>title and song lyric are from Chances by Backstreet boys</p>
<p>sorry this is a bit late guys! i was traveling yesterday for college (i hate long flights especially during this pandemic) and was pretty much dead at the end, so even though the chapter was done i was in no mood to edit it!</p>
<p>anyway, we're approaching the end - only one more chapter left (that i planned, at least)! honestly, this fic was born from a crazy idea i had one day and i never imagined i would write this much, but y'all, the response i've had to this has been incredible and i've literally been feeling so giddy the last few days! it was my first ever Lucifer fic and i was scared of posting it, but you've literally made my week, so thank you!</p>
<p>also, i definitely want to write more Deckerstar fics in the future, so if you have any requests for them, just hit me up!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Chloe</em>
</p>
<p>When Chloe threatened Remiel with freezing Heaven over, she didn’t exactly know whether it was possible. Her powers, up until now, have reacted like a bomb, causing fires or floods or rainstorms in a burst of explosive emotion. Freezing is different. It happens slowly and it needs to be sustained for it to be effective at all. She has to approach it differently than the flood, when she let her anger build up and released it in a fit of rage.</p>
<p>She decides to start small—trying to freeze water in a glass without shattering it. It’s a process, and Lucifer’s bar in the penthouse gets covered in glass pieces more often than not. She knows she’s able to cool the water, what with fog appearing on the outside of the glass, but the moment she gets a tad too excited about it, the glass shatters.</p>
<p>Quickly, she realizes she can’t freeze something with rage. It’s too explosive and unstable, and she’s more likely to break the glass than affect the water at all. So she switches it up. She managed to wilt flowers when grief overwhelmed rage, and maybe that’s the key. Wilting isn’t <em>exactly </em>explosive and if she was able to kill plants without even thinking about it, she thinks she will be able to freeze water if she focuses just enough.</p>
<p>For the first time, she understands why Lucifer enjoys being the Devil so much. Being invulnerable, having wings, and mojoing people into revealing their desires must’ve made him feel <em>powerful. </em>And in a way, what she’s doing here in Heaven is <em>kind </em>of a superpower as well, especially now that she can control it. She can direct her attention to an object and make it explode. She can put something on fire with ease. Wilting flowers and switching drinks is something of the past.</p>
<p>She can call a flood. And it feels <em>good. </em></p>
<p>Briefly, she wonders what Lucifer would think of it if he knew what she was doing. Would he be proud?</p>
<p><em>Yes, </em>Chloe thinks without even an ounce of hesitation. Lucifer was always so proud of her work and let her be the badass in their partnership more than once, even though he was an invulnerable Devil. If she acquired these powers on earth, she knows he wouldn’t have felt emasculated and would be the first to celebrate with her. In fact, she can imagine him staying in the background with a “#1 DETECTIVE FAN” banner, yelling “That’s my girl right there,” over the sound of the exploding glasses or burning wood.</p>
<p>Chloe misses his constant support more and more every day. It’s been four months and the ache of losing him grows every day, along with her determination to get him back.</p>
<p>Whatever it takes.</p>
<hr/>
<p>She manages to freeze her glass of water on her fifth day of trying. Time here doesn’t work like it does on earth, but if she counted the days right, then it’s her birthday—something she was supposed to celebrate with Lucifer and Trixie—and she wakes up with tears already in her eyes.</p>
<p>She places a picture of Lucifer and herself on his piano and puts the glass of water right next to it. It doesn’t take a long time for grief to twist her stomach into knots. She thinks of the birthday she had last year. Lucifer flew her over LA, giving her a picture perfect look of the city that even the best helicopter tours couldn’t match, before taking her above clouds and allowing her to see more stars than she’s ever seen in her life.</p>
<p>Her hair was a mess when they landed and her face was flushed red, but it was the best birthday gift anyone could’ve asked for. Lucifer even looked mildly hurt when she brushed aside his actual gift—in her defense, she would’ve cared more if she knew the CD he handed her had songs he sung just for her—and told him nothing could peak flying over LA.</p>
<p>She fell asleep that night in Lucifer’s arms and wings, listening to his songs.</p>
<p>The memory that once brought a smile on her face now cuts into her heart. If she was back on earth, who knew just how <em>good </em>of a birthday Lucifer would’ve planned for her? He tends to go overboard with parties anyway, and when it comes to her, there really is no limit to what he will do.</p>
<p>Tears spill down her cheeks as she closes her eyes and directs her grief to the glass of water. She imagines her insides going cold, which isn’t too hard to think about anyway. One thought about how warm Lucifer’s wings were when he wrapped them around her is enough to send shivers down her arms. She specifically didn’t wear any jackets, wanting to feel every bit of the cold she can summon.</p>
<p>When she opens her eyes, the water is frozen, but that’s not all. She blinks at the piano and the sheet of ice that covers the keys. Her eyes travel down, to the thin ice that covers the floors, and when she runs her sneaker over it, it slips easily.</p>
<p>In fact, looking around, she realizes she froze everything in a six-feet radius around her.</p>
<p>A smile pulls her lips. Freezing Heaven over doesn’t seem that absurd an idea anymore.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Chloe discovers just how well-placed her freezing threat was the next day when she wakes up, goes to the living room, and proceeds to slip on the ice that covers the floor. In her sleepiness, she didn’t even notice that the ice isn’t gone, like she expected it to.</p>
<p>She presses her palm on the smooth, cold surface of the ice and looks up. Sure enough, the floor is still covered in a sheet of ice, as well as the piano and the glass of water on it. She stands up and has to pry off the framed picture off of the piano. The glass is foggy now so it’s hard to make up either her or Lucifer’s face, but she smiles either way.</p>
<p>As opposed to the flood, which disappeared in about five minutes, or the rainstorm that lasted for ten seconds at most, the ice <em>stayed </em>even when she let go of the grief. It has melted slightly, as Chloe’s pants are wet from sitting on the floor, but even the fact that it’s still <em>there </em>gives Chloe hope. She doesn’t have to keep <em>focusing </em>on her grief to freeze Heaven. One strong bout of it may be enough to keep the place under snow and ice for at least a few days.</p>
<p>She carefully steps away from the living room and is just about to grab whiskey from the bar in the penthouse when she hears a whoosh. She glances over her shoulder just in time to see Azrael land right in the middle of the ice, slip, and barely keep herself standing by holding onto Lucifer’s piano. “Holy freaking babies, what in the Heaven is this?”</p>
<p>Chloe’s brows arch in amusement. “Ice,” she comments, taking out another glass and pouring whiskey for Azrael as well. The angel gives her a <em>you-don’t-say </em>look and steps carefully towards the bar.</p>
<p>“And may I please ask you why your living room is <em>covered </em>in ice, exactly? Is this some sort of a weird human fantasy or something? Do you want to turn your house into a large Igloo?”</p>
<p>“That’s the end goal.” <em>Essentially, </em>Chloe thinks, extending the whiskey to Azrael. She eyes it suspiciously before taking it.</p>
<p>“Didn’t know Lucifer was into getting kinky with ice,” she murmurs, plopping down on the stool that’s farthest away from the ice. Chloe snorts. Just a few years ago, she would’ve blushed at that comment, but that was before having the Devil as her boyfriend. It took some time, but Lucifer showed her that there’s nothing to be embarrassed about sex and it’s okay to own up to liking the kinky stuff.</p>
<p>And when it comes to Lucifer, he knows a <em>lot </em>of kinky stuff.</p>
<p>“I don’t know if there’s a type of kink that Lucifer is <em>not </em>into. You do realize that the list of people he slept with would fill an entire phonebook.”</p>
<p>“An entire what now?” Chloe gapes at her.</p>
<p>“Please don’t tell me a literal immortal angel doesn’t know what <em>phonebooks </em>are.”</p>
<p>“Hey, give me a freaking break, okay?” Azrael suddenly gets defensive. “I only used to go down on earth to lead dead souls into afterlife, and breaking news! Not a lot of people die because of <em>phonebooks.</em> I would’ve taken that over one of the <em>millions </em>of preventable car accidents I had to deal with. Let me tell you, crushed metal and broken skulls get old <em>real </em>fast.”</p>
<p>“You sound just like Lucifer when we had victims die from knife or gunshot wounds,” Chloe comments, sadness washing over her for a brief moment. She stares inside the whiskey glass as she leans over the bar and continues, trying to imitate Lucifer’s deep tone and British accent. <em>“But this case is so bloody boring, Detective! Just another husband stabbing their wife to death because of some infidelity. At least get </em>creative<em>.”</em></p>
<p>The room falls into silence and Chloe can feel Azrael’s eyes on herself. She looks up at the angel to see a solemn look in her eyes. As much as she looks and even mostly <em>acts </em>like a teenage girl, Azrael can pretty much switch into her eons-old angel side in a second.</p>
<p>“You really loved my brother, didn’t you?” Chloe looks up from her glass with wet cheeks. She doesn’t say anything, but her expression must’ve been answer enough. “And I guess Remiel really wasn’t kidding when she said you were trying to freeze Heaven like some sort of Elsa 2.0.”</p>
<p>“I’ll do <em>anything</em> to get him back, Azrael.” Chloe’s voice is tear-strained and rough, but there’s strength and conviction behind it. She didn’t come so far, learned to control her emotions, just to give up now. “So don’t try to stop me.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, no shit. I’m not gonna step on your gown. I <em>really </em>like this cape and I’d like to keep it flame free, if possible.” She smooths over the black fabric and grins at Chloe. “Though I gotta say, kudos to you for burning Remiel’s dress. She complained about it for about a day and now I have it in a glass cage as a reminder of the day a ‘measly human’ bested Remi.” Azrael mimics Remiel’s voice with the words <em>measly human, </em>and then grins. “Also, it would be super duper cool to have Lu back. I really missed him and visiting him on earth is just <em>not </em>the same, especially now that he’s moping like, all the time.”</p>
<p>Chloe freezes with the mention of Lucifer and her eyes snap up. It’s been a while since Amenadiel last visited, and even then Chloe didn’t get a chance to ask him about Lucifer. She was scared to hear just how badly her fiancé was handling her loss. By all accounts, he believed he didn’t have a way into Heaven—Chloe made Amenadiel promise not to tell him about her plan until they got an actual result, just to make sure they didn’t give Lucifer false hope—and if what she gathered about Heaven was true, he probably believed Chloe was happy and content to be here. No angel has apparently seen a human mope for longer than a day, and while Chloe’s sure Lucifer doesn’t doubt her love for him, she also knows that his insecurities would just too easily make him believe that she can be happy without him.</p>
<p>Even if Heaven meant she wouldn’t see him forever.</p>
<p>Really, Azrael’s words about Lucifer’s situation doesn’t come as a surprise for him. Still, she feels like there’s a gaping wound in her chest. She clears her throat before she even gathers the courage to ask her burning question. “How’s he handling…” She can’t finish the sentence but Azrael can easily guess what she means. She just gapes at Chloe for a second before schooling her expression.</p>
<p>“Would you believe me if I said he was partying at Lux every day?” Now it’s Chloe’s turn to gape. “Right. Of course not. That was stupid.” Then Azrael sighs and downs her whiskey. “To be perfectly honest? He looks like he’s suffering in his very own Hell loop. He spends most days in bed and only leaves if someone comes. Ella is pretty good at getting him out of it, though.” Chloe hears a hint of pride in Azrael’s voice and is once again reminded of the fact that the “ghost” Ella mentioned to her in one of their cases was actually Azrael visiting the woman like some sort of a guardian angel. “He doesn’t eat or drink much, but that also extends to alcohol and drugs so it’s not as bad as it could’ve been, I guess. But he did move away from Lux and his new place doesn’t have as much alcohol—”</p>
<p>“He moved <em>away</em>?” Chloe blurts out. Listening to Azrael, her insides started to twist into a painful knot, but the last sentence clinched it. “From our penthouse?” she asks, her voice smaller now.</p>
<p>“It reminded him too much of you,” Azrael says simply. Chloe looks around her own replica of the penthouse in Heaven and her heart aches, but she gets it. She thinks that if she believed she wouldn’t be able to see Lucifer again, she would’ve tried to change how her house here looked as well. If she didn’t <em>need </em>the reminders of Lucifer to help her through her plan, she would’ve stayed away from a place that was so ingrained with <em>him.</em></p>
<p>Yet that’s also exactly why it’s so painful to even consider Lucifer <em>not </em>living in the penthouse. Years ago, when they considered moving in together, they didn’t consider him moving into Chloe’s house for even one second. It was never a matter of <em>where </em>they would live, but when would be a good time for Chloe and Trixie to move into the penthouse. Never mind that it was three times the size of Chloe’s house and had a brilliant view, but every part of the place contained a piece of Lucifer, and every room brought a warm memory into Chloe’s mind.</p>
<p>Chloe knows, more than anyone, that home is more often a person than a place, but with the penthouse it was different. With all the memories it contained, good and bad, it had become a <em>home </em>to Chloe and Lucifer’s relationship over time.</p>
<p>No wonder Lucifer moved away.</p>
<p>Chloe is so lost in her thoughts that she doesn’t realize the air in the room cooled down several degrees until Azrael giggles. “Seems <em>my </em>plan is working,” she mutters. Chloe knits her brows.</p>
<p>“Your plan is making me cry because my fiancé is suffering?” She meant to sound sarcastic, but all she hears is grief when the words come out. Azrael just grins and gestures around the house.</p>
<p>“If it gets you to freeze Heaven over sooner rather than later, yes. I would like my brother to be back home, like, preferably now, and you’re kind of our only hope.” Chloe blinks and looks around the room, seeing ice covering every surface now instead of the area just around the piano. She blinks, her tears stopping for a brief second as she takes everything in.</p>
<p>“Chloe.” Azrael’s voice is intense. Chloe’s eyes turn to the angel, only to see determination and trust in her eyes. “I want my brother back, and I mean more like I want the happy version of him back rather than him being physically here, even though the end goal is the same. I imagine it’s difficult to dreg up your grief and have it explode into a snowstorm, but <em>please, </em>don’t give up. Dad’s taking notice, Remiel’s furious, other angels are scared, and…” She exhales, watching her breath turn into a wispy white smoke in the cold air. “And Dad would probably give me the boot if he knew I was egging you on. But I didn’t stand up for Lu when he rebelled the first time and I think I would never forgive myself if I didn’t at least try to make things right. Even if it means letting you go all Elsa on my home.” Azrael offers her a small smile and stands up, careful not to slip on the ice again. “So. You know. You have my blessing, I guess.”</p>
<p>Then she’s gone, leaving Chloe alone in the penthouse, eyes wide. It wasn’t that surprising that Amenadiel stuck up to Chloe, considering how close the brothers were on earth. She never expected Azrael’s support as well, especially when it meant going against her father, <em>God himself. </em></p>
<p>A grateful smile pulls Chloe’s lips. Azrael may be kind of a weirdo teenager every now and then, but she obviously loves Lucifer. And just like that, Chloe has two of God’s angels by her side.</p>
<hr/>
<p>A week passes since Chloe’s conversation with Azrael, and she finally feels ready to enact her plan. The penthouse looks and <em>feels </em>like an Igloo by now, enough that she has to wear coats in it. Now that she also knows just how horrible of a pain Lucifer is in, she doesn’t want to wait any longer.</p>
<p>She steps into the balcony of the penthouse and looks down. The sight is different than the one she’s used to, as the ground is covered in houses belonging to her ancestors rather than the skyscrapers of downtown LA. The streets are quiet and devoid of cars, something that will never ever happen in the city, and while Chloe can see people moving around, they are way too small to make out.</p>
<p>Briefly, she considers whether she should warn them, but that would require going all the way down and any more delay would diminish her determination. Besides, she knows they won’t get hurt in a real sense and as soon as she gets Lucifer back, she’ll end the snowstorm. In Heaven, wounds heal instantaneously.</p>
<p>Making up her mind, she puts on her headphones and quickly open up her favorite playlist on her phone—the CD Lucifer made for her. She was delighted when she found out that she could literally <em>will </em>the songs into existence in Heaven, as she can’t imagine ever losing them.</p>
<p>Lucifer’s deep, soft voice fills her ears.</p>
<p>
  <em>What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this? <br/></em>
  <em>In a crowded room, what are the odds? <br/></em>
  <em>What’s a guy like me doing in a place like this? <br/></em>
  <em>Getting close to you, but here we are?</em>
</p>
<p>For the millionth time, Chloe thinks he has a beautiful voice. Angelic, almost, pun completely intended. She’s of course heard him sing in Lux multiple times, both loud and upbeat songs that get the crowd singing, and slower, deeper ones that bathes the club in silence as everyone’s entrenched with his performance. Yet his voice has a different tinge when he’s singing just to <em>her. </em>It’s more genuine, more open, more heartfelt. She can feel in his voice that he means every single word.</p>
<p>
  <em>What are the chances that we’d end up dancing?<br/></em>
  <em>Like two in a million, like once in a life<br/></em>
  <em>That I could have found you, put my arms around you<br/></em>
  <em>Like two in a million, like once in a life<br/></em>
  <em>What are the chances?</em>
</p>
<p>Chloe wants to hear him sing his songs to her again. <em>Live. </em>It’s just not the same, listening through the headphones. Heaven can replicate his voice perfectly, but hearing him sing is more than just about the song itself. Chloe likes watching him play the piano, his experts fingers flying over the keys. She likes watching him look over it and flash her a brief smile that fills her stomach with butterflies. She likes watching him give his all to the song, live and breathe it, and bring it to life in a way she hasn’t felt any other performer do. She can’t have any of those in Heaven if she doesn’t have him.</p>
<p>
  <em>Is it love? Is it fate?<br/></em>
  <em>Who am I? Who’s to say?<br/></em>
  <em>Don’t know exactly what it means<br/></em>
  <em>Is it love? Is it fate?<br/></em>
  <em>Where it leads, who can say?<br/></em>
  <em>Maybe you and I were meant to be…</em>
</p>
<p>Tears spill down Chloe’s cheeks and she feels the air around her shimmer. A chill runs down her spine, but she lets it happen. She thinks about Lucifer and how he’s grieving down on earth right now, thinking he will never see her again. She thinks about the family she built with him and Trixie, and just how devastated her little girl will be when she eventually comes to Heaven and realizes his second father figure is banned. She thinks about the last four months, how empty her bed felt every damn night, how lonely it was to see the happy couples around her, how <em>unfair </em>it was that everyone had their loved ones with them but she couldn’t have it herself.</p>
<p>Lucifer belonged <em>here. </em>God, angels, anyone be damned. She wanted Lucifer here.</p>
<p>She grips the railing harshly and releases her grief and pain. A wind knocks her off of her feet. In her shock she opens her eyes and briefly, expects the wind to stop. It usually does when she loses concentration.</p>
<p>But instead, the wind is picking up <em>speed. </em>It’s mixed in with snow and Chloe is shivering, even under the three layers she’s wearing. It’s hard to see anything in front of her because of the storm, yet she doesn’t care. She watches the snowstorm she created, mesmerized, and stands up. She has to hold onto the railing to even keep herself standing, but without giving up, she pours every bit of her anger, pain, grief, and fury into the storm, building it up, letting it crescendo.</p>
<p>She’s doing it for Lucifer, and that’s enough to keep the storm going.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The snowstorm lasts a day, draining Chloe’s energy, but she doesn’t mind it much, only for the fact that Heaven is covered in snow six feet thick and no one is able to leave the house. The temperature dropped to freezing degrees and most people are cowering in their houses, wondering what the <em>Hell </em>is happening that would cause such a drastic and horrible weather change.</p>
<p>Chloe knows all the angels and God himself is trying to find a solution and coming up empty. Azrael, in secret, visited her the previous day and told her that half the angels ran out of solutions and the other half—the ones that are most sympathetic to Lucifer and kind of know about Chloe’s plan—are staying silent on the matter. God is <em>furious, </em>but even his rage isn’t enough to melt the snow.</p>
<p>It’s working, and Chloe can barely believe it. With the rush of her success, she calls up another snowstorm on the fourth day, adding onto the snow that just began to melt, and that’s when the first angel visits her.</p>
<p>First it’s Remiel, begging for her to stop, bringing up how her actions are affecting other Heaven residents. Chloe doesn’t budge, reminding her that she already made her conditions pretty clear—bring Lucifer back, and she’ll stop.</p>
<p>Then it’s Gabriel, God’s messenger, and she isn’t really surprised. Gabriel is just as pompous as Lucifer made him out to be and thinks flirting with her would get her to stop. She certainly hopes that he’s punished for it when his flirting leads to a bout of anger from Chloe and the storm just gets worse.</p>
<p>When the storm recedes slightly, an angel she doesn’t recognize by name or sight, Jegudiel, visits her. He tries to apply to her mercy and tells her that after eons of living in peace, a snowstorm can cause catastrophic psychological consequences on Heaven residents. Yet her answer is the same: Bring Lucifer, and she’ll stop.</p>
<p>Kushiel, Raguel, Raphael, and Seraphiel all hear the same thing. Azrael visits again at some point as well but she doesn’t even <em>pretend </em>to appeal to Chloe, and instead updates her on God’s situation. He’s getting desperate—who knew an omnipotent God could get <em>desperate</em>—and the angel thinks that if Chloe continues for a few more days, it might force God’s hand.</p>
<p>With a newfound ferocity, Chloe calls another snowstorm that night, burying the place into another five feet of snow. Even the angel’s wings, when they open them up, can’t reach the surface now when they’re standing on the ground.</p>
<p>It is on the eighth day that her burst of confidence starts to melt. No angel visited her in the last two days and she’s worried God is waiting it out. She doesn’t want to give up and finds that her desperation helps at least keep the snow on the ground, but she’s exhausted and she fears she won’t be able to call another storm, even if she tries.</p>
<p>She’s lying down in bed, staring at a picture of herself and Lucifer, tears streaming down her face nonstop when the elevator to the penthouse opens. With a sigh and some effort, she pulls herself into a sitting position. She knows her hair is a mess and her eyes are red and puffy, but she’s prepared to blow off whatever angel came now.</p>
<p>Yet she comes to a stop when she sees Amenadiel, who has a brilliant smile on his face. Her hands curl around the blanket. “If you’re here for a social call, Amenadiel, I’m really not in the mood—” But then Amenadiel steps aside and the figure behind him steps into the light.</p>
<p>Chloe freezes. “Lucifer?”</p>
<p>She imagined this moment in her mind way too many times—the moment she succeeded and first laid eyes on her love. In most of her imaginations, she knew beforehand that he would be coming, and she had time to plan how to greet him. She thought about a large party at Lux, how the crowd would part for him, and he’d walk to her with all his swagger and pull her into the most passionate kiss of all. She thought about an intimate moment in the penthouse, where she could show him the minimal progress she made in learning the piano and play him one of his favorite songs as a greeting. She thought about preparing a large picnic in park, just like the ones they used to go with Trixie back on earth. Anything to forget the loss they both suffered, the four months she spent without him, and however long it was for him on earth.</p>
<p>What she <em>didn’t </em>imagine was seeing him when she’s a crying mess, in the middle of a snowstorm she herself created. A small relief is that he looks just as much of a mess as she is, with his hair a curly mess, his cheeks sunken, and eyes tired and puffy.</p>
<p>Then he smiles at her, and she thinks it’s the most brilliant smile she’s seen in the last few months.</p>
<p>She doesn’t know who moves first, but in a second she’s out of the bed and stumbling towards him, and he’s closing the distance between them just as quickly. She needs to get to him, <em>now—</em>her body aches to touch him, to feel his warm skin underneath her fingers, to make sure he’s <em>actually </em>there and this isn’t some sort of a dream. They crash into each other roughly that in any other place but Heaven, she’s sure she’d have sported some bruises from it, but she’s much too happy to feel any pain, her heart soaring in the clouds.</p>
<p>His arms are just as strong and comforting as she remembers. Tears fill her eyes and start streaming down her face but she doesn’t care. Her shaky fingers crawl up his chest, feeling every nook and cranny of his body, until they find his face and light stubble, and she’s laughing. It’s him, it’s him, it’s <em>him, </em>Lucifer’s here and this nightmare can finally be over. She did it.</p>
<p>
  <em>She did it. </em>
</p>
<p>“Detective,” he breathes and she feels weak at her knees, memories rushing into her mind. They’re almost married and he still calls her that more often than her real name, but she loves it because it’s so <em>him</em> and no one can quite say it like he does, filled with awe and gratitude and cherishing and care and <em>love.</em></p>
<p>His hands find their way up her cheeks and she feels the warmth emanating from them. Even though he’s as gentle as ever—in another lifetime, she would’ve probably laughed if anyone even insinuated that the Devil could be <em>gentle</em>—as he wipes away her tears with his thumbs.</p>
<p>There’s so much she wants to say to him. That she never forgot him, even though Heaven lived up to its reputation and she could’ve easily been swept away by everyone’s happiness. That she never settled for losing him <em>forever </em>and would go through the last <em>hellish </em>four months over and over again if it was necessary to have him back. That she missed him <em>so damn much </em>and it feels <em>heavenly—</em>pun completely intended—to be in his arms now after feeling cold and deprived for so long.</p>
<p>Yet she doesn’t have the words for all of that. Instead, she pulls him down into a passionate kiss, her teeth clattering with his, her tongue prying his mouth open. He responds just as passionately and his arms snake around her waist, pulling her up to her tiptoes. She feels dizzy with the overwhelming emotions coursing through her veins, relief and love mixing with passion and hunger.</p>
<p>She has to pull back to breathe but she doesn’t move away from his arms. She thinks she might actually <em>die </em>if she’s deprived of his touch now.</p>
<p>“I was about to give up.” The words tumble down her lips, choked with sobs and hoarse through the knot in his throat. His face is all blurry as she looks up at him through her lashes and tears. “I thought he wouldn’t listen. I thought I wouldn’t be enough—“</p>
<p>“Chloe.” Lucifer’s voice stops her, soft and silky as always even though it’s obvious he’s been crying for a while. She lets her eyes drift shut as his thumb rubs the gentle spot underneath her ears. She can’t see him, but she can feel his smile. “You brought me back.”</p>
<p>Slowly, a grin spreads on her face. She did, didn’t she?</p>
<p>“You stood up to my <em>Father </em>and bloody forced his hand. You’re…” Pride is audible in his voice and she can’t help chuckling. It’s been a while since she’s laughed so it comes out sounding weird, but then Lucifer’s eyes are twinkling and she doesn’t care.</p>
<p>“You’re a <em>marvel</em>, Detective.” His fingers lightly brush away her tears again. She takes her hands in his and grasp his fingers tightly, rubbing the tight knuckles and warm skin. As always, Lucifer is emanating <em>warmth, </em>and Chloe just can’t get enough.</p>
<p>“Well, you went to Hell and back for me a couple of times. I thought it was time <em>I saved you.” </em>She intends the words as a joke but her voice cracks at the end. Looking at him, she’s once again reminded of just how close she got to losing him forever, and she can’t help shivering.</p>
<p>Judging by the troubled look that crosses his eyes and the way he presses closer to her, as if that’s even <em>possible </em>at this point, she knows he’s thinking of the same thing. She squeezes his hands. “Lucifer, you know I would’ve never accepted a forever without you, right? You know I would fight tooth and nail for us to be together?”</p>
<p>His face cracks and she knows that he, for some time at least, believed she was happy in Heaven, even if it meant she couldn’t be with him. She makes a mental note to carve it in his head that happiness for her means being with <em>him</em>, and nothing Heaven offered could change that.</p>
<p>In fact, she doesn’t even need proof for it. She shrugs and gestures outside. “You know, in case it wasn’t clear from my snowstorm.”</p>
<p>But when she actually looks outside, she doesn’t see snow at all. In fact, she’s sure if she steps onto the balcony and looks down to the street, she would see no hint of the snowstorm that’s been ravaging hell for the last week. And deep down, she knows why.</p>
<p>Heaven may react to her rage and grief, sure, but it reacts to her happiness as well. And now, she’s soaring above clouds, feeling giddy and content inside for the first time. She has Lucifer back, she’s happy with no strings attached, and Heaven can feel that.</p>
<p>Lucifer’s arm wraps around her shoulders as he guides her outside. She’s bathed with warmth under the bright sun, but somehow it doesn’t hurt her eyes at all. Heaven magic, she thinks.</p>
<p>“Well, would you look at that, Detective,” Lucifer murmurs, amused. “It seems you just breathed life back into Heaven.” Chloe follows his line of sight and sees that the snow on the ground is replaced by hundreds of flowers, all bursting from the ground around the buildings, their colors bright and discernible even from a distance. She remembers that day in the flower field when she was testing her wilting powers and instead brightened up the field with her love for Lucifer.</p>
<p>She smiles. “I’m just happy,” she admits, looking up at the love of her life. His eyes are bright and mirror her own happiness.</p>
<p>“Me too, Chloe,” he says and presses a kiss in her hair.</p>
<p>They stand there like that for a long time, relishing in each other’s presence.  </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Wings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>oh my goodness i'm so sorry this took me like, forever to write. college hit me like a ton of bricks and i barely found time to do anything else but work. also, for some reason, i ended up rewriting parts of this multiple times as i wasn't super happy with it. but here we are! hope you like this!</p>
<p>also, initially this was going to be the last chapter, but i've been thinking of a few scenes that i want to add to this, so be on the lookout for another chapter! i can't promise when i'll be able to post it, but hopefully it won't take me as long.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Lucifer</em>
</p>
<p>Even though it’s been eons since Lucifer saw the Silver City, he still remembers how it looked like. Heaven isn’t a place you can forget, as it is designed to give its residents all that they desire, and even the unhappiest person can find a home here and be happy. It looks slightly different to everyone, based on their likes and dislikes, and yet it emanates warmth and safety to everyone.</p>
<p>When Lucifer and Amenadiel take the first step inside, warmth and safety are the last two things that comes to Lucifer’s mind. A shiver runs down his spine as he wraps his jacket around himself tightly, fingers rubbing the fabric in a hopeless attempt to warm up. He doesn’t have his celestial body anymore so, unlike Amenadiel, he can’t adjust his body temperature to overcome the chill from the snow.</p>
<p>Yes, <em>snow, </em>and not the kind that’s soft and pleasant and invites children to play outside. No, this snow is unyielding and rises more than fifteen feet from the ground, pressed against the glass window of the building Amenadiel brought them into. Light can’t even get through it and the place is bathed in darkness, only illuminated by the dull sheen of Amenadiel’s gray wings.</p>
<p>Lucifer instinctively tries to extend his own wings to bring some proper light into the place, only to feel <em>nothing. </em>But of course, without his celestial body, he wouldn’t have wings anymore. He made a deal with his Father and he’s…human now. Not an angel, not the Devil, just…human.</p>
<p>As much as he’s <em>freezing </em>and would really appreciate his wings, the thought is relieving, only for the fact that he knows from now on his Father can’t manipulate or use him in any way. Without his powers or wings, he’s useless to God, and he…doesn’t hate that idea. What is so bad about just being his own person instead of what Father wants him to be?</p>
<p>“Doesn’t look like Heaven, does it?” Amenadiel takes Lucifer out of his thoughts as he flicks on the light switch. Lucifer sighs and his breath comes out as white puffs of smoke.</p>
<p>“D-Did you decide t-t-to make a pit st-stop at Ant-t-tarctica before Heaven, b-brother?” he whispers through clattering teeth. He has to <em>work </em>on moving his numb lips to even get the words out.</p>
<p>Instead of answering, Amenadiel snorts and extends him a thick, black fabric. Lucifer realizes it’s a coat. He notes that it doesn’t look like an expensive brand—a shame, really, considering Amenadiel could’ve asked for literally <em>anything </em>here—but he doesn’t care. He yanks the coat out of his brother’s hands and quickly puts it on, relishing on the little warmth it gives him. At least he doesn’t feel like a popsicle anymore.</p>
<p>“Why would we need to stop at Antarctica when your fiancée turned Heaven into it?” Amenadiel jokes, a hint of a smile on his face. He looks…almost proud, even as Lucifer balks at him.</p>
<p>He remembers Amenadiel talking something about Chloe freezing Heaven over, but he never thought…</p>
<p>“You mean <em>Chloe </em>did this?” he asks, tucking his hands into his pockets. He looks to the wall of snow again, trying to discern just how big of a snowstorm must’ve caused it. He doesn’t even <em>know </em>the extent of it yet, seeing as he can’t even see what’s outside.</p>
<p>As if Amenadiel read his mind, he moves to the door and opens it, stepping back to escape from the wall of snow that almost pummeled him. He doesn’t even seem bothered by it, though. “She’s been causing snowstorms on and off this past week in Heaven.” He stops and looks at his brother, and Lucifer realizes that yes, Amenadiel is proud. Amenadiel, an angel who once considered Heaven his home and was devastated that he lost his wings, is proud that Chloe turned the Silver City into Frozen. (Lucifer remembers that movie all too well, having been forced to watch it with Trixie multiple times.)</p>
<p>But Lucifer doesn’t care much about what his brother thinks. He looks at the snow again and steps towards the door carefully, peering outside from the small opening that Amenadiel just created. A rush of cold air hits him in the face and makes him shiver. He blows out a warm breath and tucks his cheeks into the lapels of the coat.</p>
<p>He realizes quickly that the snow looks endless on the outside. It extends along the street and covers the roofs of the buildings across from it. Most of the one-story houses are almost buried in snow, only their tops peering out of it slightly. Few snowflakes are floating in the air and there isn’t a storm anymore, yet Lucifer imagines it would be impossible for anyone to go outside.</p>
<p>And <em>Chloe did this?</em></p>
<p>For <em>him? </em></p>
<p>“When you said Chloe bloody froze Heaven, I didn’t think…” His voice is thick with emotion and he doesn’t quite know how to put his feelings into words. Tears sting his eyes. “I thought she was happy.”</p>
<p>Amenadiel snorts and ignores the glare Lucifer sends his way. “Really, brother, you’ve known Chloe for over a decade. Did you <em>really </em>think she’s the kind of person to shrug and accept an eternity without you if she can do something about it?”</p>
<p>Lucifer hesitates, even though deep down he knows the answer is a resounding <em>no. </em>Chloe isn’t one to sit back and let someone else do the work if something needs to be done, or if it is about someone she cares about. She will <em>literally </em>go to Hell and back to make sure her loved ones are happy, and if it was anyone else in question—Trixie, Ella, Maze, Linda, Daniel, or even Amenadiel—Lucifer wouldn’t have doubted for one second that Chloe was doing everything in her powers to get them back.</p>
<p>When it comes to <em>him, </em>though, Lucifer has a hard time believing anyone would go to such lengths for <em>his happiness</em>. Until Chloe, no one cared about him much, and definitely not enough to risk their place in Heaven to get him back. Until Chloe, <em>quid pro quo </em>was all he knew, and he got used to not asking for anything for free. Even after years of the Detective proving to him that she loved him <em>for him </em>and expected nothing in return, it caught him off guard when she did something like…well, freezing Heaven over to get him back.</p>
<p>He feels a pang of guilt for ever believing that Chloe was happy without him. His own insecurities aside, Amenadiel is right—he should’ve known Chloe would fight for him.</p>
<p>Amenadiel puts a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t feel guilty, brother. You wanted Chloe to be happy, even if it was without you. It was admirable—“</p>
<p>“I didn’t want her to be happy because I was bloody <em>selfless</em>, Amenadiel,” Lucifer bites back, his voice cracking at the end. He tries to school his expression, but tears fill his eyes nonetheless. “I thought she’d be happy because who am <em>I </em>to think I can make her happier than the bloody <em>Heaven? </em>How am I supposed to compare with…” His voice trails off as he shuts his eyes tightly. Amenadiel stays silent and lets him continue. “And all this time she was fighting for <em>me </em>while I was sitting on my arse, accepting a forever without her. I should’ve known that wasn’t what she desired. I wasn’t being selfless, I was just a selfish prick—“</p>
<p>“And what would you have done,” Amenadiel interrupts finally, “if you knew for sure that Chloe would choose you over Heaven? What <em>could </em>you have done to change your sentence?”</p>
<p>“I would’ve…” Lucifer begins, voice rising, but then he trails off. Nothing comes to mind—nothing that he hasn’t tried anyway. Father doesn’t listen to prayers—let alone the ones from him—or his siblings, and he rarely goes back on a decision, thinking all highly and mightily that he couldn’t have gotten anything wrong. Nothing he did down on earth would’ve gotten him a ticket into Heaven. “Something,” he finishes with a gulp, even if he knows it’s bullshit. “I would’ve <em>tried—“</em></p>
<p>“And you would’ve not only been miserable yourself, as you already were, but you would’ve also beaten yourself over Chloe’s pain here.” Lucifer presses his lips together but he doesn’t argue. Amenadiel has a point, no matter how guilty he feels. There was no point in compounding his pain with Chloe’s when, by all accounts, he could never gain entry into Heaven. Chloe might not have been happy in Heaven without him, but it didn’t make him selfish to believe she was.</p>
<p>“She told me not to tell you about her plan,” Amenadiel continues, taking Lucifer out of his thoughts. “Just in case it didn’t work. She told me she didn’t want to give you false hope, but I think she also didn’t want you to know that she wasn’t happy. Deep down, she knew it was better to let you believe in a lie if it helped you in the long run.”</p>
<p>Lucifer nods with a gulp and pushes his guilt down into his chest, as deep as possible, and locks it in a box. There will be time in the future to talk through it, but now, he just wants to see Chloe.</p>
<p>“Can I see her?” he asks, his voice hoarse. Tears fill his eyes again and turns to his brother, hands still tightly tucked in the pockets of his coat. He shivers, but he doesn’t know if it’s because of the cold or excitement.</p>
<p>Amenadiel’s smile is brilliant. He grabs Lucifer’s arm and his wings extend. It doesn’t take long for them to land in front of, to Lucifer’s surprise, not Chloe’s old house or a brand new little cottage, but an exact replica of Lux extending into the sky.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Before God created humans, before either Hell or earth even existed, Heaven was supposed to be home to God, Goddess, and their children. At the time, even Lucifer—or <em>Samael, </em>which was the name he went by those days—would call the place home, even though in hindsight the family more closely resembled a master and his servants, rather than a father and his children. As much as God called angels his children, he never acted like a father. He required his angels to follow preset rules, do everything he asked them to without question, and stay in that narrow path he set for them. He punished everyone who set even a small step outside of that path.</p>
<p>Since God considered even a small delay punishable, Lucifer’s rebellion was pretty much equivalent to dancing off of the path while flipping off his father—even though it was only prompted by a simple question of “why”. A question that spurred eons of misery in Hell for Lucifer, banned from Heaven and any access to his siblings unless his father ordered them to interact with him, tasked to punish the worst dregs of humanity.</p>
<p>At the time, Lucifer was devastated that he lost his home, realizing only in time that Heaven was never really one. He was a glorified, obedient soldier in Heaven, prevented from choosing his own path. Free will, according to his Father, wasn’t in angels’ blood and was punishable by an eternity of torment and exile.</p>
<p>As much as Lucifer yearned to go back “home” those first few thousands of years he spent in Hell, never after that did he think he’d willingly come back here to live under his Father’s shadow again. A free, limited life in Hell—and afterwards on earth—was much more enticing than serving under his Father. He would’ve probably laughed if someone even implied that he would find his home again in Heaven.</p>
<p>That was before Chloe. Now, lying in the bed with her, watching her chest rise and fall softly under the covers, light washing her bare shoulders and pink lips, he feels <em>home. </em>He’s in Heaven, somewhere he’s grown to hate over the eons, and he feels more at home than he’s ever felt in this place.</p>
<p>  All thanks to the woman next to him. He smiles as his hand snakes up her arm, his rough knuckles brushing her soft skin, and gently moves her hair away from her face. The strands look like liquid gold under the heavenly light and are spread around her head like a halo. Her eyelashes, which look longer than he remembers, frame her cheekbones. Lucifer’s fingers find their way to Chloe’s cheek and his thumb brushes her eyelashes lightly. He knows it won’t wake her up unless she’s rested enough—thanks to Heaven’s magic. He can watch her, cup her cheek, kiss her hair as much as he wants without worrying about prematurely waking her up, as he was on earth.</p>
<p>On earth, where he spent seventeen excruciating days opening his eyes to an empty bed. Where he would reach a sleepy arm out to Chloe’s side every morning, only to find it cold and undisturbed. Where the pain in his chest would only be a small reminder of days, months, years, <em>decades </em>he’d have to spend unable to reach the love of his life.</p>
<p>It’s been just seventeen days, a blip in his long life, yet he would’ve traded it to eons of torture.</p>
<p>His vision blurs. He gulps in a useless attempt to get rid of the knot in his throat, yet it only burns more and he finds himself choking back his sobs. His hand on Chloe’s cheek shakes, and as if she senses his distress, her eyes flicker open. Their bright blue finds Lucifer immediately.</p>
<p>“Hey,” he croaks out, unable to look away. At first, Choe is too sleepy to focus on him, but it doesn’t take her long to realize what’s going on. Her face crumbles in grief, much to Lucifer’s dismay. “I didn’t mean to wake you—” he tries to continue but she stops him by pressing her lips on his. They’re soft and undemanding, just working as a reminder that she’s here, she’s real, and he’ll never have to wake up without her again. He’ll never have to live without her, <em>ever. </em></p>
<p>He can taste his tears as they fall down his cheeks. Chloe pulls back. She gently wipes away his tears and offers him a wet smile. “No sleeplessness in Heaven, Lucifer,” she murmurs, and her soft voice washes over him like a warm hug. Instead of stopping, more tears fill his eyes and it’s an effort to gulp back his sobs. His throat is burning, his stomach is twisting into knots and even though he’s under two layers of blankets, he can’t stop trembling. He almost lost this…<em>forever</em>. He almost lost Chloe <em>forever </em>and the memory of that is still too fresh in his mind. Heaven may not allow nightmares, but it was just <em>yesterday </em>that he was crying in another bed without anyone to hold him.</p>
<p>A choked sob escapes his lips and he tries to look away in shame. He doesn’t want Chloe to see just how broken her death left him—but she doesn’t let him. Her grip on his neck tightens and suddenly she pulls him close, an arm wrapped around his shoulders to keep him there, legs tangling with his. She doesn’t even seem to mind that his tears are wetting her t-shirt.</p>
<p>She runs gentle fingers through his hair, and then presses a kiss there. “I’m here,” she murmurs, over and over again. That’s all she says—that she’s there with him, she’s not leaving him, she’ll stay <em>forever. </em>She doesn’t say that everything will be okay, or he’ll be happy again—she knows that’s not what he needs to hear. He loves her all the more for it.</p>
<p>For the first time in the last seventeen days, he’s not crying alone, and it feels…<em>heavenly. </em>Lucifer thinks it’s the first time he described anything about Heaven as <em>heavenly </em>and actually meant it.</p>
<p>Chloe’s hand moves to his shoulder blades, her fingers rough on his skin. He feels glad that Heaven didn’t smooth out her fingertips—another reminder to Lucifer that his fiancée was a badass detective that didn’t run away from a fight. Focusing on her fingers, Lucifer calms down his sobs enough and tips his head back. He doesn’t move away one inch—he doesn’t think he can bear it if there was any distance between them now—but he wants to see her eyes.</p>
<p>They look even brighter, with tears gleaming over her blue orbs. Her cheeks are wet as well, but her lips are tipped into a soft smile. Lucifer reaches out and cups her cheek, thumb softly wiping her cheekbone to catch one of the stray tears.</p>
<p>“I know you wanted me to be happy here,” she whispers, leaning her cheek against his palm. Lucifer freezes and realizes suddenly that Chloe probably knew exactly what went through his mind after her death, either because Azrael or Amenadiel spilled the secret, or she knew him just too well. More likely the latter. “That was your plan when you proposed to me, right? You wanted to make me happy in whatever time we’d get on earth, and that would be it for us. You never actually thought we would have a happily ever after.”</p>
<p>Lucifer grimaces and looks away. When she puts it like that, it sounds <em>stupid. </em>If Chloe proved one thing with her stunt in Heaven, it is that her <em>happily ever after </em>includes him and she won’t take it any other way, even if Heaven offers her everything she can dream of.</p>
<p>“And you didn’t explicitly tell me about it because you wanted me to go to Heaven. You didn’t want me to know I’d be leaving you behind because you didn’t want me to refuse Heaven.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t want you to feel guilty about leaving me behind, Chloe,” Lucifer whispers finally, eyes firmly focused on a spot behind her shoulder. Chloe’s hand stops rubbing his upper arm and moves to his chin. She gently guides his head so he’s looking at her again.</p>
<p>“And guilt sends people into Hell,” she adds, her voice small. Lucifer just nods. He wants to apologize for not telling her the entire truth, for believing she could be happy without him, but there’s a huge knot in his throat and he can’t get the words out. Still, Chloe seems to be able to read his face. “You saved me from Hell knowing you couldn’t follow me here because you knew I couldn’t be happy down there. You wanted to give me my best chance at happiness.” Her tone isn’t accusatory at all and she even smiles, gently tugging Lucifer’s wayward hair behind his ear. “As much as I want to tell you how <em>stupid </em>it was for you to think I’d actually be happy knowing you’re suffering on earth, I get why you did it, Lucifer. I just want you to know that I would never be okay with an eternity without you, even if my plan didn’t work. I would’ve found a way to bring you here one way or another because my happily ever after isn’t Heaven. It’s <em>you.” </em>Her fingers brush his stubble lightly and move down to his neck. Even a gentle touch from her is enough to keep him in place. He mirrors her smile and blinks away his tears so he can see her clearly.</p>
<p>“It seems like I have a guardian angel,” he murmurs, hand caressing Chloe’s side. Her grin widens as he pulls her close, his lips crashing onto hers. She moans under the kiss as her hands sneak to his back once again, palm roughly exploring his shoulder blades—</p>
<p>She suddenly stops and pulls back, leaving Lucifer empty and yearning. He leans in to kiss her again, but a hand on his chest stops him. Chloe’s frowning as she sits up, her fingers exploring Lucifer’s back.</p>
<p>It takes Lucifer another few seconds to realize what’s going on, and then he feels stupid. His <em>wings. </em>Of course. They’re technically not visible to human eye when they’re hidden, but a careful search reveals two tight muscles where they grow from. Over the years, Chloe became apt at identifying the wings. Lucifer curses and tries to move away, but he’s too late.  It doesn’t take Chloe long to figure out that he doesn’t have wings anymore. Not even the scars from cutting them off.</p>
<p>“Lucifer, your wings…” she whispers, her hand resting on his shoulder now. Lucifer clears his throat.</p>
<p>“Detective,” he rasps, grabbing a hold of her wrist to pull her hand away from his back, but it’s too late. “It’s nothing—”</p>
<p>“Where are your wings, Lucifer?” she asks, sitting up to look at his back again. It’s the anger in her eyes that stop him from hiding. She guides his shoulder and her eyes roam his back, fingers still searching for the wings. Lucifer’s mind flashes back to when she first saw his scars all those years ago and how he freaked out at the thought of Chloe touching them. It’s ironic that he’s letting her explore his back now—yes, yes, he doesn’t have the scars anymore, but still—and even beyond that, time and again he let her explore his <em>wings </em>the same way. He doesn’t blanch at her touch—he…likes it.</p>
<p>He tries to choke out a laugh, but it comes off as fake. “Really, darling, angel physiology is weird,” he tries to say to clear the air. “It’s possible they’re hidden deep down so you can’t feel them…” His voice trails off at her intense gaze. She knows him too well to not know he’s stalling.</p>
<p>“Lucifer, don’t pretend. I know they’re gone.” Her eyes are wide as they search his face. “What happened to them?”</p>
<p>Lucifer’s shoulders fall. “I had to give them up as part of the deal my Father offered me.”</p>
<p>Chloe may be just a human, but the icy fury that fills her eyes at his confession makes him understand how it was possible for her to force God’s hand. “Your Father <em>mutilated you?” </em></p>
<p>When she puts it that way, it really does sound worse than it actually is. He shrugs and takes her hands in it, wishing he can erase the look of worry in her eyes. “He didn’t forcefully remove them, Detective. He proposed me a deal and I took it.”</p>
<p>“What kind of a deal?”</p>
<p>“Chloe—”</p>
<p>“What <em>kind, </em>Lucifer?” Her voice is filled with so much anger that Lucifer has to glance outside to make sure there isn’t another snowstorm going on. She’s not going to back down until she has her answer. He sighs and keeps his gaze on his lap.</p>
<p>“I become a human, and he grants me entrance to Heaven.” Chloe’s hands tighten into fists around his fingers and Lucifer thinks the room just got a few degrees hotter. He looks up and moves a hand to her cheek. “Chloe, it’s okay. I knew what my father was offering me. I didn’t blindly say yes to the deal—”</p>
<p>“As if your father even gave you the chance to say <em>no,</em>” Chloe sputters, shutting him up. “It’s been <em>eons </em>and he’s still <em>manipulating </em>you. <em>Hurting </em>you. And now he used your love for me to make you a human.”</p>
<p>“Chloe, it’s not your fault,” Lucifer is quick to say. She scoffs and rolls her eyes, but he quickly takes her face in his hands, hoping his eyes reflects just how much he believes in his words. “I never lie, remember? The deal might not be…ideal, but I’d give up anything to have the chance to spend the eternity with you. It doesn’t matter if I’m an angel or not.”</p>
<p>“But that’s exactly the point.” Chloe’s eyes are shining with tears. She looks up at Lucifer and runs her fingers down his cheek, fingertips brushing his light stubble. “It doesn’t matter whether the deal was fair for you. It was still a <em>deal, </em>Lucifer, when it could’ve just easily been a gift. He’s still asking you to give up pieces of yourself for your happiness.” She blinks away her tears and presses her lips together tightly. “I know you don’t blame me, but I’m sorry that he forced you to become a human. I’m sorry he took away your wings.”</p>
<p>“I have a feeling you liked my wings more than I ever did anyway,” Lucifer jokes, hoping to clear the air a little bit, and earns a light chuckle from Chloe. “And you know what I always wished for, even back on earth. You know why I always envied humans.”</p>
<p>It takes Chloe a few seconds to understand what he was talking about. Her eyes widen slightly. “Free will,” she murmurs, hand falling on his shoulder. “Does this mean—”</p>
<p>“That I have free will now?” <em>I don’t know. </em>“I hope so. All I know is that without my wings, without my celestial body, I’m no use to my Father.” Chloe grimaces but doesn’t comment. He can almost see what she’s thinking—for someone who had such a strong relationship with her father, it pains her to see just how different Lucifer’s relationship with his is. “I finally don’t have to worry about what he wants from me. I don’t have to worry about pleasing him so he’ll reward me. I can…” He chokes up, the meaning of his words catching up to him. He gently caresses Chloe’s cheek. “I can be with you, forever. That’s all I ever wanted.” He rests his forehead against hers and captures her lips in his. The kiss is slow and soft but it still warms his soul and he feels the room brighten just a little bit.</p>
<p>Chloe’s hands sneak up his bare chest and rest on his shoulders. She doesn’t move away, but a curious smile pulls the corners of her lips. She glances up at Lucifer. “You liked your wings, too, didn’t you?” she asks, her voice devoid of judgment. “Once you realized it wasn’t forced on you by your father but a reflection of how you see yourself.”</p>
<p>Lucifer knows the answer, but he doesn’t want to say it. He doesn’t want Chloe to feel even worse about the situation than she already does. Instead, he shrugs. “I did like flying,” he comments, which isn’t a lie. Chloe rolls her eyes. <em>Even here you find a way to answer my questions with non-answers, </em>he can imagine her thinking. Still, she must’ve gotten what she wanted because her hands squeeze his shoulders. Her eyes close in concentration and her fingers move to his chest, exploring every inch of his body. He shivers under her touch and there’s no hiding what he wants.</p>
<p>“Chloe,” he murmurs, voice deep and rusty. “Not that I’m complaining, but what—”</p>
<p>“Shh,” Chloe shuts him up, moving one hand to press a finger to his lips. She takes a deep breath, releases it, and it is then that Lucifer feels a tingling on his back. He blinks, the sensation so familiar and yet <em>impossible—</em></p>
<p>With a flap, two white, enormous wings grow out of his back. He gasps as they extend through the room, blocking out most of the light and bathing Chloe in darkness. Her eyes are twinkling even in the shadow.</p>
<p>One of her hands reach out to ruffle his feathers and Lucifer can actually <em>feel it. </em>Whatever Chloe did didn’t just paste fake wings to his back. These are <em>his wings</em>—they feel like a part of him instead of something foreign attached to him. His wide eyes watch Chloe as her fingers explore his feathers. Her touch, as always, is gentle.</p>
<p>“I can’t give you back all the abilities you had on earth,” she confesses, a slight disappointment seeping into her tone. She’s <em>disappointed, </em>even though she literally grew Lucifer’s wings from nothing. Wings that <em>his Father took away. </em>“I can’t even begin to guess how you do your desire mojo and I don’t think I want you to be impossibly attractive to everyone here. But I learned a few tricks, so I thought…” She shrugs, as if it’s nothing, and moves her hand away from his wing. Her eyes are hopeful as she faces him. “Do you like them?”</p>
<p>Lucifer’s answer is to swoop her into his arms, wrapping her with his new wings, and kissing her like there’s no tomorrow. Chloe chuckles under her breath as he tugs on her hair to expose her neck. His lips move down to her pulse as her fingers brush through his hair, messing with his light curls. “I take that as a yes,” she mumbles, voice breathless. Lucifer stops for a second and looks up at her.</p>
<p>“Chloe, you’re…incredible.” There’s much more to say, but that’s all he can come up with, and that seems to be enough. Chloe’s eyes sparkle brightly. She pulls him into a kiss again, ripping her t-shirt into shreds as she removes it. (In any other situation, Lucifer would’ve been impressed. Heaven certainly doesn’t give anyone superpowers, but Chloe seems to have gotten a hang of her emotions enough to use <em>them </em>as her powers. In this case, passion gives her the strength she needs.) Her pants join her t-shirt soon, and then they’re lying on the bed again.</p>
<p>A part of Lucifer doesn’t want to waste any time, considering the last seventeen days and how tired both of them were the previous day to even think about sex, but when he looks down at Chloe, he realizes—they have all the time in the world. There’s no reason to rush because there’s no deadline, no work, no interruptions that will take them away from what they both want. They’re here, in Heaven, <em>forever. </em></p>
<p>The thought of that makes his insides explode and he finds himself grinning. “What are you smiling about?” Chloe asks in a husky voice. Lucifer shakes his head.</p>
<p>“I’m just happy,” he says, repeating what Chloe told him the previous day. Her laugh fills the room right before she pulls him in for another kiss.</p>
<p>She doesn’t say the words back, but her actions are enough. She’s happy, too. More than she’s ever been.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>also of note: i have no idea how it happened, but as it stands, the second chapter is literally 7.5k and i have no bloody idea where to break it into pieces so... i guess look out for a massively long chapter? trust me, it'll be a good one, though. i went out of the realms of the show and experimented with how i think Heaven might look like, and i hope you like my interpretation.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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